


The Virgin Diaries

by GoodnightAndJoyBeWithYouAll



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, F/M, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2018-04-19 08:21:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 30,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4739426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GoodnightAndJoyBeWithYouAll/pseuds/GoodnightAndJoyBeWithYouAll
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kala Dandekar is smart, has great friends and most importantly, is happy. Perfect, right? Except for one small problem. </p><p>Well, more of a mild hindrance than an actual problem. </p><p>She's a virgin. </p><p>And there's nothing wrong with that! Nothing at all. She could honestly care less. The whole concept of virginity is nothing more than a social construct and in no way, shape or form is a proper source of personal validation. </p><p>Still. She would like to get rid of it. </p><p>And now it looks like she's about to get that chance. </p><p>A Sense8 College AU loosely inspired by the real-life college adventures of my friends and I.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Move-In Day

“Hey, are you sure that you’ve got it?”

“You might be stronger than me, but I’m pretty sure I can handle carrying a box up a flight of stairs.” Kala could feel the eye-roll that her roommate was giving her through the carpeted floor of their brand new house. After reaching the top of the steps, Kala hurried into her room, dumping the box on the floor before flopping face first onto her bed.

in less than a week, twenty-one-year-old Kala Dandekar would start her third year of school at UCL in The U.K. It had taken over a year to convince her parents to let her leave their home in Mumbai to study in London and it had taken almost just as long to convince them that she was mature enough to live off campus, even having to go as far as to sign the lease behind their backs, making sure not to tell them anything until it was too late for them to stop her. They had had no choice but to relent, and Kala had gone the extra mile, making sure to show them around the apartment, the city and the high paying receptionist job that she had acquired to pay for everything. By the end of the trip, both of Kala’s parents had felt more at ease by the end of the trip and their daughter had walked away picturing how she would be setting up her new place, her fingers typing out a text message to her future roommates and telling them to get ready to get ready to celebrate her good news.

Speaking of her roommates, she could hear one of them bounding up the stairs, walking into the room and flopping down beside her, blonde hair spilling out on her polka dotted bedspread. Nomi Marks had sat in front of Kala during their Psych 101 class freshman year. During that first week, Kala couldn’t remember seeing her take a single note but when they got their scores back from the first quiz, Kala noticed that she had gotten a perfect 100, even higher than her own score. She had approached her after class and the two of them formed a makeshift study group, meeting up every couple of days to study and just hang out.

Kala learned that Nomi came from a very wealthy family and that she had grown up with a doctor for a father and a psychologist for a mother. Her parents had been grooming both her and her younger sister to follow in their footsteps, dreams that Nomi had never wanted any part in, instead locking herself in her room for hours at a time and honing her skills in hacking.

It wasn’t until Nomi had showed up at her dorm one night, covered in bruises and sprouting a swollen left eye that Kala even knew she was trans. She and her roommate had been walking home from a party when they'd been attacked, her friend messing up their attackers pretty well, but not before they had gotten in their own set of hits. Her roommate had wanted them to go to the hospital, but Nomi had begged them not to, not wanting her parents getting involved. Knowing that Kala was studying pharmaceuticals, she had insisted they go to her and Kala had taken the both of them in, relieved to find out that none of their cuts were too deep and the bruises would fade soon enough. The three girls had ordered pizza, hooked up the Netflix to the TV and spent the night laughing and talking until well after the sun had come up.

“If you had been slowly moving your stuff in like the rest of us, then you would have been done a long time ago.” Kala raised her head to glare at her friend, whose response was to laugh and pull her into a hug. “I’m just saying. School starts in only a few days. Cutting it pretty close there, my friend.”

“This was the earliest my parents would let me leave. I’m amazed that they even let me come back alone.”

“Priya and Sanyam just want to protect their daughter from the big bad world.”

“I do not believe that I will ever be okay with the fact that you and my parents are on a first name basis.” Nomi raised one shoulder before lowering it again.

“What can I say? I’m irresistible. It’s a curse, really.”

“Sure it is.” Both girls rose up on the bed to see Sun standing in the doorway, her overalls covered in paint, along with her arms and a dot of yellow on her cheek and another one on her nose.There was a paint brush sticking out of her pocket and another one sticking out from behind her one of her ears. Kala could still remember the first time she had met the lithe Korean, her knuckles bruised, a cut in her side and a smile on her face as she had helped maneuver Nomi into a chair. She proudly announced how she had sent their three attackers packing, their tails tucked in between their legs. Sun had apparently wanted to go after them, but Nomi had convinced her not to, claiming that they needed medical attention before anything else.

Even after knowing her for almost three years, Kala still sometimes had trouble connecting the hardcore underground fighter who she had personally witnessed bring men twice her size to their knees, and the girl who currently stood before her, a bright smile on her face and specks of paint in her hair. As much as she would like to deny it, Sun was definitely the mother of the house, always checking on each of them and making sure that everyone was doing okay. She was also very protective of Nomi in particular, taking the blonde under her wing since the moment they had met: two foreigners in a strange country and in desperate need of a friend. Sun, who had been very close to her own mother, had cried when she found out that Nomi’s had refused to accept her for what she was, even going so far as to tell her 18-year-old child that if she didn’t plan to come home a boy when the school year ended, to not bother coming home at all. That was the moment when Sun had decided that she would attempt to protect Nomi from the world, even if it meant she had to do it personally and with her own fists.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t love all the attention.” Sun teased, taking a few steps into the room. “You literally adore when people fawn over you.”

“Hey!” Nomi argued. “It’s not my fault. As an activist-”

“-the word you are looking for is hacker-”

“-as a _hacktivist_ ,” Nomi continued. “A large amount of my job is being anonymous and making sure that no one knows my identity, so therefore when people willingly acknowledge how fantastic I am, I have no choice but to revel in it. I would honestly be doing the world a disfavor if I did anything else.”

“Oh no, you’re fine. This is fine. Please, stay in your bed while I carry up your things. Don’t help at all.” The three girls turned to see a head of platinum blonde hair enter the room, dragging her feet as she deposited the box in her hands on the floor beside the bed. Riley Blue had been an unexpected addition to their little trio, but Kala couldn’t deny that it was a great one. The year before, she, Sun and Nomi had gone out to a club and had caught one of Riley’s sets. Afterwards, Nomi had wanted to buy a cd, and the three had waited outside the club for her. When the blonde had finally emerged, the four of them had easily struck up a conversation: Riley bonding with Nomi over the Avengers shirt she was wearing, she and Sun trading recipes for Peanut Butter Cookies, and Kala gushing with her over the newest Super Smash Bros. game. The Icelander had seamlessly fit into their lives as if she had been meant to be there the whole time and Nomi had brought up the idea of moving into a house, all four girls had agreed that there wasn’t anyone else they would rather live with. Kala rose from her bed.

“I’m sorry, Riles. I was just taking a break. I’ll head back down-”

“Don’t bother.” She interrupted. “This was the last one anyway.”

“Really? This is all? Including my stuff from storage?”

“Yep, all your stuff’s out and I for one, am exhausted.” Riley plopped down into Kala’s beanbag chair, sighing as she sank down into it. “We still have to unpack the kitchen, put the pictures up on the walls in the living room, buy stuff for the bathroom-”

“Can you stop being practical for a moment, Riley?” Nomi groaned. “This is the first time all four of us have been in the same place since June. School doesn’t start for another few days and we can always unpack tomorrow. Tonight, we should do something!” Kala and Sun exchanged a look, the latter sighing dramatically before turning to face their overly excited friend.

“What did you have in mind, Nomi?” The blonde grinned, and Kala could already tell that tonight was not going to end well for one of them, even if it was too early to tell which one.

“Well, our friend Felix-”

“More like our dealer Felix-”

“Don’t even pretend like you haven’t bought off of him before, Riley! But like I was saying, our friend Felix and his roommates are having a party and they only live a few blocks down from us. Free booze, free weed and a bunch of hot people just looking for a good time. Plus,” she added when Riley started to interrupt her again. “There’s a certain brown-haired, blue-eyed American raised boy that I know you’re just dying to see.” Riley’s jaw snapped shut at the accusation, but she also made no move to deny it. Kala chuckled, unable to hide her amusement at the look on her friend’s face.

She had been there the first time that Riley had laid eyes on Will Gorski, the four of them laying out in the spring sun, when Felix had walked up to them a plate of brownies in his hand and a stranger trailing a few steps behind him. Nomi had graciously taken one and after a moment’s hesitation so had Sun. Kala had turned them down (having spent enough time around the german to know exactly what kind of brownie it was) before turning to see why Riley hadn’t taken one, only to see that her friend seemed to have lost the ability to speak. Riley’s Hazel eyes were stretched wide and her jaw hung open as she stared up at the boy in front of her. It had taken a sharp nudge to the side from Nomi to get her to close it and another one to get her to tell Will her name. The brunet had smiled as he introduced himself and inviting them to his rugby game later that week. Before any of them could decide, Riley had accepted for all of them, saying that they would love to come. Will and Felix had left soon after that, and all three of them had teased her relentlessly, not letting up until after she had threatened them with blackmail twice.

“A party could be fun.” Kala started, much to the enjoyment of Nomi. “And it would be nice to see the guys before classes start and we all get super busy.”

“Precisely my point! So this is what we’re gonna do: Sun, you go take a shower. Riley, you go change your clothes, Kala, straighten your hair, and I’m going to start making dinner. We will eat in an hour, we will start drinking an hour after that, and an hour after that, we will head on over to the party. Any questions?” Sun raised her hand mockingly.

“Do we even have a choice?”

“No. Any other questions?” Kala rolled her eyes and tried to remember which box her straightener was in. She had been friends with the blonde long enough to know that when she had her heart set on something, trying to go against her was a decision she would, in fact, live to regret. Nomi’s grin widened at her friend’s silence, heading for the door and tugging both Sun and Riley out with her. “Get the lead out ladies! We’ve got a lot to do and very little time to do it all! Welcome back to London, Kala! You’re home sweet home!” With that sentiment being said, all three bodies turned down the hall and out of sight, but Kala could still hear her friends complaining as they were pulled against their will. She sighed, flopping down on her bed for the second time that day, a smile spreading across her features as she silently agreed.

_“Home. Sweet. Home."_


	2. The Party

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old faces and new friends.

“Bernner!” The male in question turned at the sound of his name being called, letting out a cheer as he identified the voice calling out to him. After the housemates had spread out to accomplish their various tasks, It had taken almost three hours to get Nomi’s nod of approval before they had been allowed to venture out of the house and make their way to the party. They got lost twice on the way before they finally pulled up directions and by the time they found the house, the bash was in full swing. Kala, who had been expecting something a bit smaller, felt uneasy as the four of them made their way inside, the tension only leaving her shoulders upon seeing Felix’s familiar face come bounding towards her.

"Glad you guys could make it!" Felix hugged each of them in turn, and Kala couldn't help smiling at his enthusiasm. "You guys having a good time?"

"We actually just got here!" Nomi yelled over the music. "I'm glad you were able to get the house. It looks great!" Felix took a swig from his bottle and nodded.

"Not gonna lie, we cut it pretty close. The day before we had to sign the lease we still hadn’t found a fifth for it. We were actually on the way to cancel the reservation when we literally ran into this guy from back home who I hadn’t seen in years. We ended up going to this bar and it was like he was the missing piece, you know? We actually just went straight to the landlord and signed it that night.”

“And the others were fine with him? After only one conversation?”

“Yep! I don’t really know how to explain it, Bak. I mean he came in and it was like he had been our missing piece ya know? He just fit.”

“What’s his name?” Kala asked, her interest officially peaked. Felix started to answer, but the sound of a crash from the other room had him running in that direction without looking back.

“I don’t think he’s coming back.” With a sigh, Nomi reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of tequila along with four shot glasses. She poured enough into each glass, and handed them out to her friends before taking the last one for herself. She held hers in the air and her housemates quickly followed suit. “A toast. To our apartment, to our friendship, to Riley hoping on Will’s dick-”

“Nomi!”

“-and to what is going to be an unforgettable year!”

* * *

After that first round of shots, they did two more as a group before breaking off: Nomi went to find Felix, Sun ran after someone who she recognized from one of her classes the year before and Kala had dragged a semi-reluctant Riley into the middle of the dance floor. The two of them could only have been out there for twenty minutes when suddenly the entire front of Kala’s t-shirt was drenched, the guy in front of her apologizing profusely, empty red solo cup in his hand. Riley had weaved through the mass of people and lead them up the stairs and into a bathroom and hauled her into it, telling her to stay until while she tried to find a dishcloth, exiting and leaving Kala alone before the other girl could stop her. The girl in question sighed, grimacing as she pulled her t-shirt away from where it was sticking to her skin eventually just pulling it off altogether and placing it on the edge of the sink. She had been wiping her stomach with one of the hanging towels on the rack when she heard the door open behind her. She turned, towel still in hand, her eyes on the floor.

“Riles, I think I'm just gonna head home. I’m gonna have to clean my shirt before it stains and plus I don’t have anything else to wear-” Kala glanced up and instantly froze, her jaw dropping to the floor. The person standing only about a foot away wasn’t Riley, nor was it someone who even remotely resembled her Icelandic friend: The male had almost a foot on her height wise as well as at least 20 pounds of muscle which could be seen through his plaid shirt, the veins in his forearm visible as he kept one hand on the door and the other holding up his phone. His hair was wet as if he had just stepped out of a shower and his head was down staring at his screen, music blaring from the headphones in his ears. Kala, who was still frozen in shock, realized that he had no idea she was even there. Only after shutting the door, did he look up and see her, nearly dropping his phone in the process. Then and only then did Kala find her voice to scream.

“ _Fuck_ , I am so sorry, I didn’t know anyone was up here, I assumed that everyone would use the two downstairs-”

“We didn’t wanna risk someone walking in downstairs!” Kala responded, wrapping the towel she had been holding around her torso, embarrassed that it had taken her so long to respond as well as attempting to regain some control of the situation. The fact that the blond in front of her looked just as uncomfortable as she did made her feel better, if only slightly. “Why didn’t you knock?”

“I didn’t think about it and since we’re playing twenty questions, why aren’t you wearing a shirt?” Kala glared, pulling the towel tighter around her.

“Someone spilled beer on it.” She answered, pointing at the garment still on the sink where she left it, the offending stain visible from where they were both standing.

“I can get it out.”

“What?” Instead of answering, the stranger had begun rummaging in the cabinets below the sink, Kala staring at him in disbelief. He finally emerged, a bottle of hydrogen peroxide in his hand. He stopped up the sink and let the water fill it before pouring in the chemical. He then picked up the stained shirt and made eye contact with the room’s other occupant and after receiving a nod, he proceeded to dump it in the mixture and scrub at the fabric. Kala watched in silent fascination and after a few minutes he held up the now wet shirt, the stain already vanishing.

“I’ll just throw it in the dryer and you can come by and get it later.”

“I don’t know how much the guys would appreciate one of their friends using their laundry without their permission.”

“Well considering that I am one of ‘ _the guys’_ , I think it’ll be fine.” Kala had opened her mouth to speak but stopped when he began unbuttoning his shirt, pulling it off of his body and handing it over to her. “I think this is a better than wearing my towel.” She nodded, accepted the shirt and the stranger exited without another word, the door shutting behind him. Kala stood stunned, not even fully certain that the whole exchange had happened, her only indicators that she hadn’t imagined the whole thing being her missing shirt and the new checkered one in her hand. She eventually broke out of her stupor and dropped the towel before pulling on and buttoning the too large shirt, tucking the ends of it into her jeans as best as she could. She looked back in the mirror and stared at her reflection for a while longer before opening the bathroom door only to see the same stranger emerging from a room across the hall, pulling a black shirt over his head. The two stared at each other, both knowing that they needed to talk, but neither really sure how to start the conversation. Luckily for them, they didn’t have to because at the moment both Riley and Felix came bounding up the stairs. The short blonde went over to her profusely apologizing for how long it took her to return, stopping when she noticed the new shirt. Kala waved it off, muttering that she would explain everything later.

“Wolfie! There you are! I was worried you were gonna be in the gym all night and weren’t gonna make it to the party!” The aforementioned “Wolfie” held out his arms and seconds later, a clearly drunk Felix toppled into them with such ease that this was clearly something that happened far too often. “I missed you.” He slurred, patting “Wolfie”’s hair. “I missed you. So. _Much_.”

“Should I even ask how much you’ve had to drink?”

“I lost count, but I know that it was enough that I’m going to regret it in the morning.”

“Then maybe you should go to bed-”

“And sleep? _Fuck no_! Besides, I never introduced you to my friends!” Felix pulled away from their hug long enough to grab hold of both girls and pull them to him. “Wolfgang, I would like you to met Riley and Kala. Riles here is from Iceland and is studying music and Kala’s from India and is studying medicine. Girls, I am honored to introduce you to my oldest friend from back home, Wolfgang Bogdanow. Fun fact, he also loves it when you call him Conan and Wolfie. I think he actually prefers it than his real name to be honest.”

“You are the only one who calls me either of those things, Bernner.”

“And if I tell enough people, it’s only a matter of time before it catches on.”

“It’s very nice to meet you, Wolfgang.” Riley said sticking out her hand to shake his. “Congrats on being one of the many foreigners who decided to go to Uni in England. We have a club that meets every other Thursday from four to six where we discuss our various homes, look at pictures of the royal family and steal snacks from the busted vending machine on the fifth floor of the Econ building.”

“I am humbled to have been accepted.” Riley grinned and dropped his hand, leaving Kala no choice but to offer her own for his to shake. “Hello Kala.”

“Hello Wolfgang. Welcome to UCL.”

“Hey Wolfie, don’t you have a shirt that looks just that? I’m pretty sure you left for the gym in it actually-“

“Hey Riley, do you know what happened to Sun and Nomi?” Kala interrupted, silently praying that the German would let the subject drop. Thankfully, her prayers were answered by Felix raising his hand in recognition and nearly knocking over Wolfgang in the process.

“I know where they are! They’re in my room! I was actually looking for the two of you when I ran into Riley downstairs and she said that you were up here.” Riley and Kala shared a look, the blonde eventually sighing and giving in.

“Why are they in your room?”

“Because we’re playing a game!”

“…What game?”

* * *

“So everyone understands how to play “Never Have I Ever?” Kala internally groaned as she tried to think of a way to leave without causing a scene or drawing too many questions. After making the fatal mistake of asking what game he had wanted them to play, Felix had grinned before pushing the three of them down the hall, not stopping until they had reached his room and forcing them in, shutting the door behind them.

Felix’s bedroom had originally been designed as an upstairs sitting area that had sliding doors installed in the middle of it so that it could be split up into two smaller rooms. The doors were currently open and seated on the floor were not only her own housemates but the rest of Felix’s as well: Capheus Van Damme who was in the middle of what looked like a heated debate with Sun, Lito Rodriguez who was teaching Nomi curse words in Spanish, and Will Gorski who was watching the whole scene with a smile. Kala could feel Riley tensing up beside her and reached over to squeeze her hand in support.

The boys had come together much in the same way that the girls had: unexpectedly but perfectly, as if they had been meant to know each other their whole lives. Capheus and Will had been roommates their freshman year, having met in a group on facebook for those planning to go into social work before school started and agreeing to live together. Will had introduced Capheus to true Chicago deep dish pizza and in return the Kenyan and introduced Will to rugby, even convincing him to try out for the school’s team with him which they were both currently on.

Felix had come along later that year when while out for drinks, Will and Capheus had witnessed him get into a fistfight outside a bar with someone twice his size. Will, unable to sit back and watch, had ran over to help him, Capheus being only a few steps behind. At first, the three of them had been winning, but then the other guy’s friends showed up. Before it could get too out of hand, the group had heard sirens coming and had dispersed. An hour later, the three males were sitting in a different pub, nursing their wounds as well as heralding their tale of cowardly heroics to anyone who was willing to listen. That night, to celebrate their new friendship, Felix had offered them each a pill of something that was supposed to _“open their minds to all of the world’s possibilities”._

The three of them had woken up the next morning to find that Will’s bed frame had been broken, Capheus’ desk had been anchored to the ceiling and that one of them had thrown up on the floor. It had taken the two roommates months to get the smell out of the carpet and even longer for Will to accept drugs from Felix again and Capheus still had yet to.

Lito had come along during their second year and had started as an incident that could have ended badly for all of them. At the time, Will had been seeing this girl Bethany whom both Capheus and Felix had warned him against: Capheus had always felt a little uneasy around her, and Felix had grown a hatred for her after she said the quality of his drugs was shit. Will had insisted that they just needed to spend more time with her, something neither of them had been willing to do. Eventually they had given in, deciding to surprise her by taking her out to lunch. They had arrived at her job at a modeling agency to find her getting a little too comfortable with one of the models. At first, they had believed that they were only seeing what they wanted to be, only to then witness her pull the shirtless male towards herself and kiss him. The two had quickly snapped a picture before running out of the building and back to campus.

Will, of course, had been reluctant to believe them and only ended up doing so when they pulled out the phone and showed him the photo. The American had stormed down to the studio intent on giving his girlfriend a piece of his mind only to run into the guy in question as he was leaving the building. Unaware of what was going on, the male had introduced himself as Lito and had been offering directions to the studio’s floor only to end up with a fist to the face. Capheus and Felix were barely able to hold Will back as he shouted at them to let him go. Lito, confused, asked him what he was talking about. Felix produced his phone with the picture only to have Lito pull out his own and show them his text conversation with Bethany where she had repeatedly asked him out and he had turned her down again and again, saying that he only wanted to be friends. He even scrolled to the beginning of their conversation, showing them the message where he had asked her if she was seeing anyone and she had firmly stated that she was single and had been for at least a year. He said that he had pushed her off of him as soon as he could, but clearly it wasn’t until after Felix and Capheus had left.

Will had been understandably crushed. Lito apologized profusely for his role in her cheating even if it hadn’t been intentional. Felix, in an attempt to break the tension, made a joke about getting revenge only for the other three to immediately agree and start spitting out ideas.

A week later, the four males were sitting in Lito’s apartment, laughing about how Bethany had had to drive home covered in feathers and glue but only after spending an hour unwrapping the saran wrap that had covered her car.

Felix and Nomi’s friendship had been the bridge that had brought their two little groups together, allowing the eight immigrants to create a family for themselves in a country far from home where they had no one else. And from the easy way that Lito made room for Wolfgang to sit beside him before pulling him into his lesson with Nomi, Kala could tell that they just added a new member to it. Before she could think too hard on it, Felix had pushed both her and Riley to the floor, with the blonde ending up across from Will and Kala once more coming face to face with the German’s whose shirt she was currently wearing. Felix sat down at the head of the group, but not before reaching under his bed and pulling out shot glasses as well as multiple bottles of tequila. “We need to break in the new house and what better way to do that than “Never Have I Ever?”

“Do you really think it’s a good idea to leave your house unattended while we get trashed in your room?” Sun asked and Kala could almost kiss her in thanks.

“I’ve already paid someone to watch the door and someone else to make sure no one comes upstairs.”

“I’m beginning to think this whole “housewarming party” was nothing more than a way to get us all here to play this game.” Capheus accused reaching for shot glass when it was handed to him. Felix pretended to look offended.

“Does that sound like something I would do?”

“That sounds exactly like something you would do.”

“Whatever, we’re already all here so we might as well do it. When in Rome, right?”

“Pretty sure we’re still in London-”

“Van Damme, don’t make me hurt you.” Capheus grinned but didn’t say anything else, simply taking the shot back before holding out the glass for another one. Kala herself had never been much of a drinker, something that the group had always understood and respected, never pressuring her to do anything she didn’t explicitly want to do. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Sun watching her, clearly ready to offer to leave with her if she wanted to go. Kala grimaced, hating feeling like a child who needed someone to watch over her.

Her parents had always been protective of her and her sister and had kept both of them on a moderately short leash. Daya had always been the wilder of the two of them, keeping secrets and hiding things all while expecting her sister to cover for her, which she always did, no questions asked. She had even invited Kala out a few times only to always be turned down. Going behind their parents’ back didn’t do anything for her except but make her feel guilty. Even when she got to uni, she still didn’t go buck wild, straying away from drugs and never drinking more than a few shots or less than half a cup of alcohol. Tonight, however, she was feeling adventurous and wanted to let loose a little and if she was being honest, there wasn’t gonna a safer place for her to experiment than the circle she was currently sitting in. She looked over at Sun, who was staring at her still full shot glass with one eyebrow arched in question, her own still full as well. Kala smiled before throwing it back and setting the empty glass on the floor in front of her. Sun nodded in understanding before drinking her own as well.

“So,” Felix started, drawing the group’s attention back to him. “Who wants to go first?”

“I’ll start.” Wolfgang offered, refilling his glass. “Never have I ever let a girl fuck me with a dildo in the shed in her backyard.”

“That was one time, you asshole.” Felix said, downing his shot and earning a laugh from the group. The game continued for a while with Sun, Capheus and Riley barely having to refill their glasses while Felix, Will, and Lito had already finished off a bottle between the three of them. Kala, to everyone’s surprise, had managed to drink about half of a bottle by herself. When the room had started spinning, she had turned over her glass, opting to stop playing and was instead making snarky remarks here and there. Every few minutes a noise would rise from the party downstairs, but the hosts would ignore it, continuing to play.

“Alright, alright, alright…” Nomi slurred, her high tolerance beginning to waver under the amount she had consumed. “Never have I ever made out with a stranger on a dare.” Riley downed her shot before making a face.

“But Noms, you have done that. Don’t you ‘memeber? We were at that bar last year and there was that girl with the colored hair-”

“You mean the prettiest girl I’ve ever seen in my entire life? Of course! How could I forget about her? She and that kiss were masturbation material for weeks.”

“It’s things like that that honestly don’t need to be shared with the group-”

“Of course they do!” Felix yelled, cutting Sun off mid-sentence. “This is safe space, Bak. Everyone in this room is family who I would do anything for and who I know would do anything for me. I would let any of you fuck me in the ass with a dildo, no questions asked.”

“And I think it’s time for this game to end.” Capheus said rising to his feet. “It’s getting late and I’m pretty sure downstairs is a mess, which means we’re gonna be spending tomorrow cleaning and I would like to get some sleep first.”

“Yeah, getting Nomi home isn’t gonna be a walk in the park either.” Riley said. “Drunk Nomi likes to fight.”

“I’m not even tha’ drunk really.” Nomi protested. “I can totally get home jus’ fine.” Sun scoffed.

“Can you even stand?” Nomi glared at her before trying only to end up falling back down onto her bottom. “That’s what I thought.”

“She can spend the night.” Capheus suggested. “We can pull out Felix’s air mattress and she can take his bed.”

“No, absolutely not. We can share. This isn’t the first time and I guarantee it won’t be the last either. Besides drunk cuddles are the best kind.”

“I second that!” Felix agreed, the two of them leaning in to high five each other. Capheus rolled his eyes before looping one arm around his waist and hauling him to his feet and dragging him across the room to lay him on his bed. Sun did the same to Nomi and the two drunkards quickly curled around each other, muttering about terrible friends and hangover cures. The group then turned to look at Will and Lito who were both lying on their backs on the floor, fascinated by the glow in the dark stars Felix had on his ceiling. Kala looked over at them as well, giggling at the picture that they made.

“Can you guys make it to your rooms on your own or do you need help?” Sun asked, earning a groan from Lito.

“Walking is so hard…” He complained rolling onto his side. “And the floor feels so nice…” Sun rolled her eyes before leaning down and running her hand through his hair.

“I’m sure that your bed feels even better.” Lito opened one eye and looked at her suspiciously.

“You promise?”

“I swear. C’mon.” She held out her hand for him to take and when he was finally able to focus on it, he grabbed it with his own and she helped him to his feet. Beside them, Capheus and Riley were doing the same to Will. Sun turned to the still-on-the-floor Kala, who was currently drifting in and out of consciousness. “Kala, once we get these two in bed, we’ll come back and we can start the walk home, okay?”

“She can spend the night too.” Everyone turned, Kala included, surprised to see that it was Wolfgang who had spoken. “She’s already half-asleep anyway and my bed is only a few feet away as opposed to having to wake her up completely and then drag her all the way home. I can take the couch.” Sun and Riley exchanged looks.

“Are you sure?” The blonde asked. “We don’t wanna kick you out of your room.”

“I promise it’s fine. I just think it’ll be easier on you guys to get home and then just come back and get them in the morning.”

“Guys, go.” Both girls turned back to look at Kala who had sat up to the point where she was leaning on her elbows, her eyes barely open. “He’s right. Dis makes more sense. I’ll be okay.” She tried to stand up, but couldn’t seem to get farther than the position she was currently in. “A little help please?” Less than thirty seconds later, there was an arm at her waist and she assumed she would be helped to her feet only to have the person’s other arm come under her knees and lift her completely off the ground. She forced her eyes open and found herself looking into a pair of blue ones. “Woah. You’re really strong.” Wolfgang chuckled.

“Thank you. It’s good to know that all the time I spend in the gym isn’t going to waste.”

“Looks to me like she’s in good hands. _Literally_.” Lito slurred causing Will to laugh.

“Don’t you mean _Lito-really?_ ” The room’s other occupants groaned at the pun and the two friends tried to fist pump but were too drunk to properly coordinate it and ended up missing and almost falling out of their friends’ arms and onto their faces. Sun, Capheus and Riley started shuffling them out of the room with Wolfgang right behind them. Now standing outside of the room, they could hear that the music had been turned off and that while some people were still downstairs, they could tell that the party had pretty much died out. Capheus, Riley, and Will walked across the hall to the door that was painted a bright blue while Lito and Sun headed towards the stairs. Wolfgang made the short trek to his own room, opening the door and barely having to jostle Kala in the process. He gently deposited her on the bed before reaching down to untie her shoes. The lights were turned off and the door had been closed behind them, so the only source of light in the room was the light from the moon that was shining in through the window.

The small part of Kala’s brain that was still sober told her how she should be wary of the fact that a boy she had only known for a few hours was now touching her in a slightly intimate way and that she was about to spend the night in his room. However, the larger inebriated part of her brain told her to not give two fricks and that was part she had the energy to listen to.

“Thank you.” She muttered, watching as he placed her shoes neatly beside the foot of his bed. She took pleasure at the fact that even under the influence, she was still able to keep her manners in check. Wolfgang shrugged.

“It’s no problem. Besides, I’d pick taking care of you over those guys any day.” Kala ducked her head in embarrassment but couldn’t help preened under the compliment. She could feel her cheeks burning and was immensely thankful that their redness couldn’t be seen in the barely lit room. Wolfgang walked over to a corner and she heard him rummaging through his drawers before he returned to standing in front of her, a t-shirt and gym shorts in his hand. “You’ll probably be more comfortable in these. I’m gonna go get you some water and some Advil and I’ll be right back.” Kala nodded and watched him go, and slowly began the act of changing into his clothes, even doing a little dance when she victoriously did it. She flopped back down on the bed in time for him to walk back in, a large water bottle in one hand and a bottle of pills in the other. He placed the pills on the table before handing the bottle to her. Kala accepted it drank about half of it before putting it down.

“Do you think you need anything else?”

“Will you sleep with me?” Wolfgang froze at the question, unsure of how to answer. Kala blushed even harder than before. “Not like that! It’s just...This is the drunkest I’ve ever been in my life,” She explained, unsure of why she was telling him this but unable to find it in herself to stop. “And while I’m sure in retrospect, it may not seem like it’s that bad but for me it is and since I’ve never been this bad before, I feel really out of my element and it would help me feel better if you stayed but I understand if you don’t want to and oh my god this is so embarrassing, I’m just gonna stop talking-”

“The first time I got drunk,” Wolfgang interrupted. “I ran to my art teacher’s house in the middle of the night and stood on her front lawn and yelled about how she should leave her husband for me.” Kala tried and failed at holding back a laugh. “Not only did I get suspended for harassment, but I also had a to write an apology letter to both my art teacher and her husband who was the principal.”

“Not that that isn’t a great story, but why are you telling me this?”

“Being drunk is a very vulnerable place, especially when it’s your first time. What I did, is embarrassing. Wanting to not be alone during something like this, isn’t.” Kala smiled and held out her hand to him, which he took in his own.

“Thank you Wolfgang. You are very kind.”

“And you are very sweet.” He responded. “But I do not think that your friends will feel the same way about me tomorrow when they come to get you and find out you’ve been awake all night.” Kala nodded in agreement and Wolfgang helped her pull the covers out from under her and covering her with them. “Can I ask you a question?” Kala motioned for him to continue as she laid down on her side and got comfortable. “Why were you so trusting when I said that you should stay? Your first impression of me was me walking in on you without a shirt on. We haven’t even known each other a full twelve hours. Why would you be so willing to trust me?”

“Felix, Capheus, Will and Lito are some of my closest friends and while I’m not at Felix’s level of “dildo trust”, I would do anything for any of them. And I trust their judgment. They wouldn’t live with someone they didn’t trust with their lives. They trust you, so I trust you. It’s that simple.”

“Good to know.”

“Besides,” Kala continued. “You don’t know anything about me. Who says that me getting you to stay isn’t a ploy so that I can have my way with you?” Wolfgang smirked at the question, arching an eyebrow.

“Who says that I would be against letting you do that?” Kala, not expecting the answer, hid her face in the pillow and pulled the covers over her head. Wolfgang barked out a laugh and Kala heard more rummaging from across the room. A few minutes later, the bed dipped and she lifted her head to see that not only had he joined her, but he was now lying on his side and openly staring at her.

“Anything else I can do to make your first night of drunken shenanigans comfortable?” Kala giggled and shook her head in amusement, exhaustion evident in her barely kept open eyes.

“You’ve done quite enough already.” She muttered. “I don’t know how I can repay you.”

“Swear not to vomit on me and we can call it even.” Kala snorted, making a fist with her right hand and holding up her pinky.

“I pinky swear and everyone knows that a pinky swear is unbreakable.” Wolfgang chuckled but dutifully linked his pinky with hers.

“Then we have a deal. However, I’ll make sure to put a trashcan on that side of the bed. Just in case.” Kala nodded in agreement and finally let her eyes fall shut, their fingers still intertwined. And if throughout the night, their hands lost contact and Wolfgang reconnected them, then that was nobodies business but his own.


	3. Early Mornings and First Day Pondering

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day and the first day

 

Kala’s mother had liked to start everyday with a sun salutation routine and when she had had turned ten she had started including both of her daughters in it. Daya took to it in a way Kala wished she could, but nevertheless, the early mornings stuck with her, and she never fully gained back the ability to sleep in past nine. It had been a blessing when it came to school, meaning Kala very rarely was late. However, in every other regard, it had been nothing but a pain. 

Like right now, when she wanted to remain asleep for as long as possible even as she felt the tell-tale signs of herself waking up. The sunlight streaming across her face also wasn’t helping and she let out a groan at the prospect of having to pull herself away from the comfort of her gray sheets. 

Kala froze, and her eyes snapped open. 

_ ‘My sheets are not gray.’  _ She thought in horror. 

_ ‘This. Is not. My. Bed.’  _

Just as she was trying to piece together the pieces of the night before, a very thick and clearly male arm came up from behind her and wrapped around her waist, pulling her into the body at her back. She felt the stranger nuzzle his face in her hair before sighing contently. Suddenly, the memories of the night before came rushing back and she could finally place the name of her surprise bedmate.  

Not wanting to run the risk of waking him, Kala took a second to take it all in: First time she had slept in a boy’s bed. First time she had slept in a bed  _ with _ a boy. First time she had, in her terms, gotten drunk. First hangover headache. Just then, Wolfgang shifted in his sleep behind her and the Mumbai native had to hold in a gasp as another first popped up. 

_ First time she accidentally rubbed against the erection of a friend.  _

Kala froze, unsure of how best to approach the situation. As both a scientist and a rational female adult, she knew that morning wood wasn’t something unusual or anything to be ashamed of. It was as natural as breathing and something he had no control over. That being said…

_ There was an erection pressing up against her and it didn’t seem like it was going away.  _

She craned her neck in search of a clock, but found that she was unable to see one with her limited range of movement. She lay still for a few seconds, ensuring that Wolfgang was still asleep before she slowly began to extracting his arm from around her waist, pausing for a few seconds when he groaned grumpily, clearly against the act of being moved. When she was finally free, she lowered his hand back to the bed letting out a sigh of relief when he tugged his pillow closer to his body and curled around it. 

She staggered her way out of the room and towards the bathroom, elated at opening the cabinet and finding a bottle of Tylenol. She quickly took two pills and washed them down with water from the tap before rinsing out her mouth and splashing water on her face. She left the bathroom and went back into Wolfgang’s, trying to make as little noise as possible as she began to search for her clothes. She vaguely remembered flinging them somewhere, eventually finding the shirt that Wolfgang had loaned her on the floor by his bookcase and her jeans under the bed. She pulled her clothes on and carefully placed the sweats she had worn to sleep in on the computer chair. A throat cleared behind her and she whirled around to see Wolfgang awake and leaning back on his elbows, his hair sticking up in every direction from sleep. Kala also noticed for the first time that he wasn’t a shirt and did her best to keep her eyes on his face. Wolfgang smiled. 

“Good mornin’.” He said, his voice gravely and still not fully awake yet. “How did you sleep?”

“Well, thank you. Your bed is very comfortable.” She said earning a grin from him. “Would you know what happened to the shirt I was wearing last night? Yours is nice but-”

“Say no more. I threw it in the dryer last night. I’ll go get it for you.” Before she could stop him, he had thrown back the covers and stood up. Kala was grateful to find that he was wearing a pair of sweatpants but it wouldn’t have surprised her to learn that he usually didn’t wear anything. She quickly changed out of his sweatpants and back into her jeans, Wolfgang walking back in just as she was pulling on her shoes, her now clean and folded shirt looking small in his large hand. She took it graciously, noticing that he had changed himself, now dressed in a wife beater and gym shorts that he must have pulled from the dryer as well. 

“Thank you. I’ll return your shirt as soon as-”

“Don’t worry about it.” He said cutting her off. “I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot of each other. I don't doubt that I'll get it back. Besides...it looks good on you.” Before Kala could respond, there was a knock on the door and the two of them turned around to see Nomi standing at the room’s entrance, the large and oversized sunglasses that she was wearing taking up a good portion of her face, the pain of her hangover written all through her body language. 

“Kals, you ready to go?” She asked, her normally loud voice, soft and quiet. “Riles is outside in her car. Mornin’ Wolfie.” The dark blonde snorted at the nickname but nodded at her.

“Nomi. How are you feeling?” 

“I threw up in your shower and after cleaning it, I threw up in the toilet. I think i’m pretty solid.” Wolfgang stiffened in surprise at the response and spared a glance at Kala who shrugged, having gotten used to Nomi’s bluntness a long time ago. 

“Yeah, I’m ready to go.” Kala said having to hold back a laugh as she watched Nomi lean against the doorframe, her hangover prevalent throughout her whole body. Suddenly her own mild headache didn’t seem so bad. “I just need to find my phone.” 

“You left it in Felix’s room. I brought it down when I got you water last night.” Wolfgang walked to the side of his bed opening a drawer and pulling out her phone as well as bringing over the water bottle and Advil. He tried to hand all three to her but Kala shook her head. 

“I think Nomi needs them more than me.” 

“Hey! I don’t...actually yeah give it here.” Wolfgang tossed both the pills and the bottle her way, the blonde catching them better than either of them expected her too. As Nomi chased down four of the extra-strength pills with the water (something Kala would have to scold her about later) the Indian turned back to the face the boy in front of her and sticking out her hand. 

“Thanks for letting me stay.” She said firmly. Wolfgang smiled, shaking her hand with his. 

“It was a pleasure. I look forward to doing it again in the future.” Kala blushed at the implication and thanked her stars that that was the moment Riley chose to lay on her horn. She sent one last smile his way before making her way around him and grabbing hold of her roommate’s hand, dragging the other girl out the door and down the stairs. They said a quick goodbye to Capheus who was in the kitchen and after handing him the empty water bottle and container of Advil, left out the front door, Nomi audibly groaning at being forced to move so fast. The two slid into Riley’s back seat, Sun already cooing motherly about how she was going to whip up some hangover cures when they got home, Nomi preening under the attention. Riley threw the car into drive and Kala let out a small sigh of relief that didn’t go unnoticed by the car’s driver. 

“Are you okay Kala? How’d you sleep? If I wasn’t so tired I would have stayed or made sure that you came home with us but since you already were half asleep-” 

“Don’t even try to apologize, Riley. I meant what I said last night and I mean it now. It was easier for me to stay over then to try to go home and I didn’t have any problems anyway.  _ I’m fine. _ ” 

“Speaking of  _ fine _ …” Kala held her breath, already knowing where Nomi’s statement was going to lead. “You know who’s really  _ fine _ ? Wolfgang. Don’t you think so Kala?” 

“He is kind of cute.” 

“Kind of?” The blonde asked, shock written all over her face. “If I wasn’t the most lesbian to ever lesbian I would be using every weapon in my seduction arsenal to ride that until it broke.” 

“Aren’t you supposed to be in pain?” 

“Just because I’m hungover doesn’t mean that my eyes have stopped working. Plus, he was definitely hitting on you.” Both Sun and Riley gasped in surprise.  Kala rapidly shook her head. 

“Don’t believe her. She is delusional from alcohol poisoning and you have to take everything she says with a grain of salt-” 

“I don’t recall him telling me that it was a pleasure that I stayed over.” 

“You threw up in his shower.” 

“That's no excuse. Besides, he didn’t look too happy to see me there. He kept looking like he wanted me to leave…” 

“You are still wearing his shirt…” Sun added as an afterthought and Kala sighed in distress.

“You too Sun? Nomi reads into everything-”

“ _ I do not _ -” 

“But I expected better from you.” The girl in question laughed, shrugging one shoulder in response. 

“I’m not saying that she’s right, but I’m also saying that you should be open to the possibility. Besides, she does have a point...Wolfgang is easy on the eyes…” 

“His beautiful  _ blue _ eyes,” Nomi continued. “Slowly undressing you in public while he thinks about all of the things he wants to do to you in private. And then, once you are-” 

“Riley, if you have any bit of love for me in your heart, you will crash this car and end me.” 

“I do love you but I’m not gonna crash my car.” She responded much to the amused groans of the girl behind her. “Sun, Noms, lay off. If Kala says he wasn’t hitting on her, then he wasn’t.” 

“ _ Thank you.” _

“And if she wants to live in her castle of denial, then it’s our job as her friends to support her.” 

“I hate you all and I’m going to set our house on fire.” The other three girls burst out in laughter and Kala pouted in defeat, crossing her arms and glaring out the window for the rest of the ride. When they finally got home, they piled out of the car and headed into the kitchen, Sun and Riley pulling out bowls and ingredients for breakfast, Nomi heading to the living room to lie down and Kala heading upstairs to brush her teeth. 

She emerged from the bathroom feeling a lot cleaner than earlier and was headed downstairs to help when her phone buzzed in her pocket notifying her of a new text. 

**_Just wanted to make sure you got home okay._ **

Another buzz. 

**_This is Wolfgang by the way._ **

Kala nearly missed a step in surprise. She stood on a stair a few feet from the bottom unsure of what to say, when, as if sensing her confusion, more texts came flooding in. 

**_Sorry if this is weird._ **

**_Capheus gave me your number._ **

**_Texting you was his idea._ **

**_All of the guys are here._ **

**_They all say hi._ **

Seconds later, her phone beeped again, this time a picture coming in with all five males seated around their table, everyone smiling at the camera except for Felix who had his head down on the table. Kala smiled at the picture and ignored the quick fluttering of her heart at the clear rambling of Wolfgang’s words. 

_ We’re fine.  _ She finally decided was safe enough to type back.  _ Riley got us home in one piece.  _ Wolfgang’s response was almost immediate. 

**_Good. How’s Nomi doing?_ **

_ About the same as Felix.  _

**_I hope she’s doing better than him. He can barely move by himself and Capheus is having to feed him. Neither of them are particularly happy about it._ **

Kala couldn’t help laughing out loud, the unexpected sound sending Riley wandering in her direction. The music major arched an eyebrow in question which Kala promptly ignored, shoving her phone into her pocket and brushing past her as she brushed past her and into the kitchen towards Sun. She was promptly put on smoothie duty and the three girls worked in tandem, Nomi eventually coming to join them but deciding her strengths were better suited for her to sit at the breakfast bar and not touch anything. 

Kala’s phone buzzed in her pocket again and she pulled it out to see that Wolfgang had sent her another picture, this time of only Capheus and Felix, the former holding out a spoon of something to the latter who had his mouth open to receive it. Both men were glaring at each other and Kala quickly pushed the puree button to turn on the blender in order to hide her snort of laughter. Sun sent her a look before turning back to frying the eggs and Kala resolved to share the pictures of the boys with her friends later. 

They would be her secret for now.

 

* * *

 

“That’s it. I quit. I can’t do it anymore. I’m dropping out, I’m going back to the states and I’m gonna become a troll who lives under a bridge.” Kala rolled her eyes as she watched Nomi plop down beside her on the grass, backpack spilling open and books falling out. Nomi groaned at the sight but made no move to put them back.

“It’s only the first day back and you’re already complaining about dropping out? Don’t you usually wait till at least a week in?” 

“Well that was before.” 

“Before what?” 

“Before my the limits of my existence were being tested.” 

“Are you planning on stopping being so dramatic and telling me what's going on or it because I do eventually have a class-” 

“Fine!” Nomi interrupted rolling over onto her stomach and glaring at her friend. “Funsucker. Do you remember last year when we went to that bar Felix told us about-” 

“You mean when we got dragged to a bar by Felix-” 

“Do you want to know what's wrong or not?”

“You say that as if my answer will change whether or not you tell me the story.” 

“Screw you Kals. Maybe I won't tell you and I'll just keep it to myself until my feelings bubble up and boil over and I explode.” 

“I call your room when you die.” Both girls looked up to see Riley standing over them with Sun only a few steps behind. Both girls dropped to the ground and Nomi pouted before rolling over onto her stomach and mumbling something into the grass. 

“We do love you.” Sun responded, having somehow understood. “But you also take forever to tell a story.” 

“How am I supposed to finish it if I keep on getting interrupted?” 

“Talk faster and only give us the highlights.” Nomi groaned before lifting her head and glaring at the three girls in front of her. 

“Fine. I was sitting in one of my tech classes that I was prepared to sleep through since it’s only day one and they’re not gonna be teaching anything important anyway-”

“This is why we interrupt you…”

“So I’m setting there at my desk and mentally picturing my keyboard was my pillow and the mouse was the stuffed bear that Will won for Riley at the fair last year but was too shy to give to her so he gave it to me instead-”

“ _ Wait what happened _ ?”

“When who should walk in? None other than the girl of both my wet dreams and daydreams, but multicolored hair, bathroom kiss girl.” At this point, all three roommates had stopped what they were doing to look at Nomi. 

“Really?” Sun asked, leaning closer. “You’re sure it was her?” 

“I would know the love of my life in the dark, Riles. It was her. She’s the TA for the class which I’m now definitely gonna fail because how am I supposed to focus if I have to look at her all the time?” 

“You could try paying attention to the teacher.” Riley chimed in. “That would probably help her be less of a distraction for you.” The bespeckled girl glared. 

“I’m gonna tell Will you wanna have sex with him.” 

“Nomi no!” The music major dove for her friend who was already reaching into her purse for her phone and they wrestled over the device, with Sun watching amused and Kala doing her best not to get hit by the flailing limbs. Eventually, Nomi got the upper hand, sitting on Riley’s legs with one hand holding her down and her other one holding her phone out of reach. She smirked triumphantly as she began typing away, Riley squirming endlessly. “Nomi, please!”

“How does this sound?” She asked, ignoring her friend’s pleas. “My dearest Will, my love for you holds no chill. I want your body on mine and I think your kisses would taste like the sweetest red wine. I want your kids and a life with you, I want us to grow old and live till a hundred and two. Now  I don’t want to sound all gross and all mushy but I want nothing more than for you to go down on me and to eat my-”

“What did we just walk in on?” All four girls turned to see Felix and Will standing above them, having clearly known where the rest of Nomi’s sentence had been going. Riley used the distraction to push Nomi off of her and snatch up the phone, quickly deleting the message. Nomi sighed. 

“Something that could have been great. Thanks for ruining it by the way.” 

“Now Noms, you know that ruining someone’s fun is my idea of a fantastic time.” 

“Was there something you needed, Felix?” The german shook his head.

“Nope. We saw you guys sitting here and decided to come bother you.” 

“ _ He  _ saw you all sitting here and decided to come bother you. I got dragged along.” Felix pretended to look offended and whirled around to glare at him. 

“But now that we’re over here, aren’t you glad that I did?” Wolfgang rolled his eyes and shrugged one shoulder, causing Felix to sigh in frustration. “Well we’re here now so we might as well accept it, right Kala?” Kala, who had been tuning out the conversation in favoring of writing down notes in her textbook, looked up at the sound her name. 

“What?” 

“Well aren’t you the one who’s always going on about fate and things always happening for a reason?” 

“Well, yes, but-” 

“Excatly, thank you for proving my point Ms. Dandekar.” Felix interrupted and making a home for himself on the grass beside Sun. “We were meant to be in this place, in this moment, and most importantly to spend time with our friends. Sit, Wolfie.” Kala shook her head in amusement before pushing things into her backpack and zipping it closed. 

“Well, as lovely as that speech was, I’m going to have to ruin it because I need to leave for class.”  

“Skip it.” Kala wasn’t even rememotely surprised to hear Felix and Nomi’s unanimous answer and rose to her feet. 

“No. I can’t skip the first day.” 

“Not with that attitude.” 

“Goodbye Nomi.” She turned and began walking away from the group and down the hill surprised when she heard footsteps getting closer and her surprise went even deeper when she saw that it wasn’t one of her roommates on their way home or Felix trying to drag her back, but instead Wolfgang who by this point had caught up  to her and was slowing down his stride to match her own. 

“Felix has been gone from home so long that I forgot how exhausting dealing with him is.” The german said after they were well out of earshot. “I’ve only been up with him for a few hours and I already want to take a nap.” 

“You regret deciding to live with him then?” 

“No.” He answered after giving the question a second’s thought. “Sure, he’s...a lot at times...a lot  _ all of the time _ , but he’s still one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. Kind, smart, loyal. Will go out of his way to make a stranger feel comfortable and he’s the most generous person I’ve ever met. He’s my oldest friend. I’d do anything for him.” Kala smiled at the admission and she knew that the brunet felt the same way. 

In the time that she had known Felix, he very rarely mentioned home and whenever he did, it never sounded like a place he liked going. However, he couldn’t keep the smile off his face whenever he brought up Wolfgang, relaying tales of their boyhood adventures from stealing candy to hotwiring his uncle’s car and everything in between. There had even been an incident where he claimed that while they were still in primary school, they had snuck into a neighbor’s cellar in order to steal a bottle of wine and ended up getting trapped there. The neighbor found them the next day, passed out on the ground floor, with eight empty bottles surrounding them. Their fathers had been forced to pay for the missing alcohol in order to save face and Felix also said that the beating he had gotten because of it had left him unable to sit without pain for a week. Wolfgang had apparently gotten even worse. Kala had a few close friends back in India who she missed terribly but it seemed weak and incomparable to what Wolfgang and Felix had. 

“I promise he feels the same way.” Kala said, breaking the short period of silence that had fallen between the two fo them. “Your relationship is very important to him.” 

“I am glad. I hope that one day you will feel the same way about us.” Kala’s heart skipped a beat and she nearly tripped at the surprise admission.  

“This is my building.” Kala turned to see that a large glass building behind her, not even realizing that they had managed to get so far in such a short amount of time. “Thank you for letting me walk with you.” 

“We were going in the same direction. i didn’t actually do anything.” Wolfgang shrugged nonchalantly but made no move to retract his response, instead sending her a little wave before heading on his way into the building. “I was thinking about dropping your shirt off at your house later today.” She shouted after him, causing him to stop and turn to face her. “What time are you gonna be home?” 

“Kala, I told you that I didn’t need it and that you holding onto it was fine. I’ll get it back when I get it back. Why does it bother you so much that you have it?” 

“I just don’t like owing people things is all.” 

“Even your friends?” 

“ _ Especially _ my friends. I don’t want them to ever feel like I’m taking advantage of them.” 

“Feel free to take advantage of me anytime you want, but if it would make you feel better, I get out of this class at four and I’m heading home after that.” Kala nodded, a blush rising to her cheeks as she tried to pretend like she hadn’t heard the first part of his statement. 

“I will see you after four.” 

“I will see you after four.” Wolfgang repeated and spun on his heel, walking back towards the entrance before stopping and turning around again to face, the grin on his face stretching a mile wide. “It’s a date.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“And what did you say after that?” 

“Nothing! He went into his building and by the time I realized what he said he was already gone. Riley, what am I gonna do?” Kala had been unable to focus in her class and by the time they were released, she couldn’t remember a single thing her professor had said. She quickly sent out an SOS to Riley, asking her to grab Wolfgang’s shirt before meeting her in one of the private rooms in the library. The bleach blonde had agreed to all of it no questions asked, something neither of her other roommates would have been able to do.

When she had finally entered and locked the door behind her, Kala had launched into the story of her walk with Wolfgang and her bewilderment at his parting statement. Riley had listened silently the whole time only posing her first question after she had let Kala get it all out. 

“There’s only one explanation, Kals. He totally you.” 

“Or he’s messing with me.” 

“And why would he do that?” 

“Felix does it all the time and he is his best friend.” Riley rolled her eyes at the sentence. 

“Yeah, but that’s different because Felix flirts with everyone. The only person Wolfgang seems interested in flirting with seems to be you.” 

“He hasn’t even been here a full two months. He’s just fixating on me.” 

“Look if it’s really bothering you that much, why don’t you ask him when you bring him his shirt tonight? Just ask him straight up.” 

“I don’t know if I can do that-” 

“Do you want to keep wondering stressing out about it or do you wanna know for sure so that you can move on?” Kala didn’t respond and Riley took her silence as answer enough. “Exactly. So when you return his shirt, ask him what he meant. And I’ll be expecting a full report when I get home from class today so don’t think you can wuss out.” 

“Yes mom.” Kala supplied sarcastically, enough though she did, in fact, feel a lot better now that she had a game plan in motion. “Also, would you mind not telling-” 

“Sun and Nomi? You got it. Do you want me to give you a lift home? It was drizzling on my way over here and it’s probably only gonna get harder.” Kala thought about it for a second before shaking her head. 

“No, that’s okay. I’ve got to finish these notes before I head over to his house. Shouldn’t take too long.” 

“Kala you know you have a terrible sense of time…” 

“Riles, seriously. It won’t take long. I’ll be here for another fifteen, twenty minutes tops.” 

 

* * *

 

Kala emerged from the library an hour and a half later, nearly crying in fustration upon seeing the torrential downpour that was taking place outside. Riley was the only one of the four of them with a car and Kala didn’t wasn’t gonna pull her out of class for something that was her own fault. She contemplated just going home and forgetting about the whole thing, but that would only mean that she would be putting off the confrontation for another day, something she didn’t want to do. With that in mind, she zipped up her jacket, threw her hood over her head, pushed the door open and walked out into the rainy night. 

  
  



	4. Rain Will Make The Flowers Grow (And Maybe Feelings Too)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When returning a shirt gets complicated

Kala could barely muster the strength to lift her hand to knock on the door when she finally reached the boys’ house. She had been drenched barely two minutes into her walk over making the almost twenty-minute walk unbearable. Her clothes stuck uncomfortably to her skin and her flats squished with the water trapped inside them with every step she took. She could feel the heavy weight of her wet hair against her back and internally groaned, knowing that it would be untamable come morning. She thanked her lucky stars that she had decided to splurge and get the waterproof backpack instead of the fabric one, knowing that there was no other way her computer or notebooks would have survived this torrential downpour from hell.

She huffed in annoyance when no one answered her knock and she quickly knocked again, wincing at the pain she felt when she tried uncurling her nearly frozen fingers from the fist she had forced them into. Eventually, she hears movement from inside the house and seconds later she heard the deadbolt being unlocked. She was unsurprised when the door swung open to reveal Wolfgang and he let out a swear that she had only previously heard slip from Felix’s lips as he took in her appearance.

“Oh my god Kala, come in, come in!” He said quickly ushering her over the threshold and shutting the door behind her. The India native let out a sigh of relief to be out of the rain, kicking off her shoes and burying her toes in the warm carpet of the living room.

“What were you doing out there?” Wolfgang asked, pulling off her backpack before placing a towel around her shoulders. Kala opened her mouth to answer but found she was unable to. Her tongue to stiff to form the words and her teeth chattering too loudly for her to get anything out anyway. Wolfgang swore in German again before gripping her shoulders and walking her upstairs and towards the bathroom.

“Take a hot shower.” He commanded to which Kala shook her head weakly.

“N-n-no I n-nee-eed to go ho-ho-home.” She stuttered out, even the idea of a shower already had her warming up inside.”

“Kala, you're soaked, your lips are blue and you can barely talk. Now, I can be just as stubborn as you and neither of us are leaving until there’s no longer a possibility of you dying of hyperthermia.”

“N-no-now y-you're ju-just exagg-exaggerating.”

“Please. If you won't do it for you, then do it for my sake. I won't be able to sleep tonight knowing that I didn't try everything I could to prevent you from getting sick.” Kala mulled it over, preparing to argue once again, but stopped short of letting the words cross her lips. She could see the worry in Wolfgang’s eyes and knew that if their positions were reversed and he has showed up on her door in the same state that she was in, she would have without a doubt reacted the same way.

“O-okay.” The male grinned and Kala tried to return it, but it came out as more of a grimace than anything else. She opened the bathroom door and entered, turning around the see that Wolfgang was still standing at the door and she sent him a questioning glance to which he looked down embarrassed.

“I'll just go get you something to wear.” He muttered before disappearing into his room, the door shutting behind him. Kala walked over to the tub and turned on the water, practically when she she had it ajusted to the temperature she liked. A throat cleared behind her and she turned to see that Wolfgang had returns and was holding out a shirt and a pair of gym shorts that looked familiar and Kala swore that her face turned a different color as she realized it was the same shorts and shorts that she had worn when she had spent the night. She accepted them and Wolfgang quickly hurried out of the room, shutting the door behind him. Kala let out a sigh of relief before quickly stripping out of her clothing and jumping under the hot stream, letting out a sigh of joy as it warmed her from head to toe.

She didn't know how long she stayed in the shower but by the time she finally turned it off, the mirror had a few layers of steam on it and her fingers had begun to nicely prune. She opened the small closet by the door and was elated at finding extra towels inside, quickly drying off before wrapping up her hair in another. She got dressed and took her wet things with her down the stairs not really sure about what to do with them.

“I'll put them in the dryer.” Kals jumped in surprise and she glared when Wolfgang grinned at her embarrassment. He held out his hands for the aforementioned clothing and she handed them over to him without complaint and headed towards the living room and plopping down on the couch, wrapping herself up in one of the blankets on the back of it. It wasn't long after that Wolfgang returned, two mugs in his hand and he handed one to Kala, the girl taking a cautious wiff before blinking in surprise upon realizing that it was Jasmine tea, one of her favorites. The two sat in silence and it was a bit unerring for Kala to find that it wasn't uncomfortable, but comforting, as if they had been friends for far longer than they actually had.

“So,” the German eventually started. “What made you decide to come over?”

“We had a meeting.” Kala responded, reaching for her backpack and unzipping it and pulling out his shirt.” I don't like to break meetings.”

“You really needed to return my shirt that bad?”

“I told you I don't like taking advantage of my friends.”

“And I told you to take advantage of me anytime.”

“I also wanted to talk to you about that.” She stated, thankful for the segway in the conversation. She removed the towel from her head allowing her hair to fall and leaving wet streaks on the borrowed shirt. She began running her hands through it, a nervous habit she had picked up over the years. “Do you like me?” Wolfgang’s eyes shot up in surprise, but besides that, there were no changes in his otherwise neutral expression.

“Yes.”

“I meant as more than a friend.”

“Yes, and I understood that.” Kala sputtered in confusion, shocked at his admission. Wolfgang grinned. “I thought I was making my intentions clear. Should I have been more straightforward?”

“No, you were straightforward enough.” She said, her face suddenly feeling very hot. “I just honestly wasn’t prepared for you to admit it.”

“Does it make you uncomfortable?” He asked, his face losing all traces of humor as he edged closer on the couch to the point where she could feel the heat radiating off of his body. He reached out and let his hand hover over hers, and when she didn’t move to stop him, he held it in both of his own. “Because if it does, I’ll stop. The last thing I would want is to make you uncomfortable.”

“It’s not so bad.” She admitted, her eyes trained on a spot just to the right of his face. “It’s more unexpected than anything else.”

“Is it bad, if that’s a good thing?” The german asked with a chuckle. “That I like the fact that I’m the only one who gets to see you blush like this?”

“I’m not blushing!”

“Yes you are. It’s okay to admit that you find me attractive, you know. You won’t be the first.”

“Your roommates-”

“All have class.”

“Wolfgang-”

“Tell me to stop, and I will.” Wolfgang said, his voice lower and more gravely than Kala could ever remember hearing it. “Tell me you don’t want me to kiss you and I’ll move to the other side of the couch, turn on the T.V., and I won’t hit on you ever again. We can pretend this conversation never happened and when Will gets out of class, he’ll drive you home.” Kala sat in her seat on the couch, nearly frozen as she tried to think over his proposal, her heart beating so loudly that she was sure the people in the house next door could hear it.

“And if I don’t?” She finally asked as she lifted her eyes to meet his gaze. “Tell you to stop?” Instead of answering (and if she was being completely honest with herself, she half wanted it) the blue-eyed male let go of her hands, placed his palms on either side of her face. Kala’s breath hitched and Wolfgang gently brushed the side of her face with his thumb in an attempt to sooth her nerves. After an elongated silence, Kala began to grow worried, only to finally figure out why he hadn’t made the effort to go the final few inches: he was waiting for her to do it. Even with his clear want for her and her previously given nonverbal consent, he was still waiting for her her to go those last few centimeters, insuring that this was something she truly wanted. After realizing this, there was nothing left for her to do but smile softly, and lean in, firming connecting his lips with her own.

While it wasn’t her first kiss, she definitely had no problem with placing it in her top five. Where she had expected him to be a bit rougher and more forceful, what she received instead was a kiss that was soft and gentle, and at a pace he let her set. One of his hands slid up into her hair and she sighed happily as his fingers gently massaged her scalp. As the kiss continued, Kala found herself getting braver, taking her hands that had previously been in her lap and wrapping them around his neck to pull him closer. She flicked her tongue against his bottom lip and he readily opened up for her, the hand still on her face moving to wrap around her back. Kala wasn’t even surprised when she found herself being lowered onto her back on the couch as Wolfgang hovered over her, his weight not crushing her but their bodies close enough that neither their chest or their lips ever lost contact with each other.

In the back of her mind there was the worrying thought that Wolfgang might want to take it further than she was really ready to go, but he kept his hands where they were and their kisses stayed on the innocent side and never once did she feel like if she asked him to stop that he wouldn’t, something she couldn’t say for some of the other boys she had unfortunately kissed in the past.

She didn’t know how long they lied on the couch kissing, but they were eventually jolted apart by the sound of someone rapidly knocking on the door. In the dim setting of the room, Kala could see Wolfgang glare at the door before looking back down at her clearly intent on continuing, only for the stranger to knock again, this time even more urgently than before. He muttered a curse word under his breath before begrudgingly getting off the couch and walking over to it, not even trying to hide the frustration in his voice as he opened it with a harsh, “ _What?”_

“Have you seen Kala?” The girl in question perked up at the sound of her name, rising off the couch just in time to see Riley enter the house. “She was supposed to be on her way here but then it started raining really hard but I couldn’t get out of class and she’s not answering her phone-”

“I’m right here, Riles. I’m fine.” She said rising to her feet and finding her arms full of blonde moments later. Riley eventually released her before checking her over for injuries. “I said I was fine, Riley. You keep acting like this and you’re gonna give Sun a run for her money. You both can’t be mom”. The Icelander glared at her but made no move to correct her either.

“Then why weren’t you answering your phone?”

“It died while I was still in the library and I didn’t have my charger with me. Wolfgang loaned me some of his things to wear.”

“I wanted to make sure that she was comfortable.” The german piped in moving to stand beside Kala. Riley stared between the two of them, taking in their disheveled appearances and kiss-swollen lips and matching it with Wolfgang’s previously unexplained aggravation from before. Kala could see her mentally putting two-and-two together and she wanted to be in the safety of her own home when it all came out.

“Wolfgang, I think it’d be best if I went home.” She said, turning to face the boy in question. “My clothes-”

“Won’t be dry for at least another hour.” He responded. “You can stop by tomorrow and we can have a repeat of what happened today. If you want.” He quickly added. Kala nodded.

“I’ll let you know.” She agreed, gathering her backpack and pulling on her shoes.  “Thanks for the clothes and stuff.”

“Anytime. I’ll see you later?” Kala nodded in agreement and Riley cleared her throat in order to remind both of them of her presence.

“Thank you for taking care of her.” Wolfgang grinned and walked them over to the door and remaining standing there until both girls were securely in the car. When the blond had finally re-entered his house, Kala let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Go ahead. Say it.” Riley giggled, throwing her car into reverse and backing out of the driveway.

“If you think we’re talking about this without the others, you’ve lost your mind.”

* * *

“I can’t believe you weren’t going to tell us!” Nomi accused, hitting her repeatedly with one of the pillows on her bed. While driving over, Riley had sent a text to the other two and they were promptly ambushed by the hactivist and dragged them to her bedroom where Sun was already waiting. Kala recounted the tale starting from her walk with the german and ending when Riley interrupted them. As soon as she reached the part in the story where they had gotten in the car, Nomi had been outraged at the fact that she was almost excluded from the fun. “I tell you everything! I tell you too much!”

“Yeah, you do!” She replied, hitting her back. “And I wasn’t gonna tell you because there was nothing to tell!”

“You almost had sex with Wolfgang!”

“I _kissed_ Wolfgang! I did _not_ almost have sex with him!”

“Poe-tay-to, pa-ta-toe-”

“ _They are not the same thing!_ ”

“I don’t even know why you always try to argue with her.” Sun said shaking her head fondly. “You know you’re gonna lose.”

“I keep hoping that one day she’ll grow up.”

“You’ll die before that happens!”

“Settle down children!” Riley said, re-entering the room, her hands filled with boxes of cookies which she tossed to each girl. “Noms, you know she didn’t mean anything by it. You just have a tendency to blow things out of proportion.”

“That’s a lie-”

“And this isn’t the kind of situation where that’s a good thing, right?”

“...I guess I’ll let it slide this one time…”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind.”

“So…” Riley started. “How was it?”

“...How was what?”

“Don’t play innocent Dandekar, you know exactly what!” Sun said taking the pillow that Nomi had previously been using as a weapon and hitting Kala with it as well. “How was the kiss?”

“It was a kiss!” Kala said giggling and willing the blush to stop spreading across her face. “You’ve all been kissed before.”

“Not by someone who looks like Wolfgang.” Riley chimed in. “Come on, spill. How. Was. It.”

“It was...nice.”

“ _Just nice_?”

“Don’t say it like that! It was a good, nice kiss! Not too much, not awkward and uncomfortable, it was...nice. Very, very nice.”

“Nice enough to do it again?”

“Honestly? I’m not sure.”

“Do you not have feelings for him?” Sun asked, her face full of concern.

“Um...I’m not sure? I mean we don’t really know each other that well.”

“That’s what dating’s for!” Nomi interjected. “Don’t try to use that as an excuse.”

“You’ve seen my schedule this year. What time would I have for a boyfriend?”

“I smell a cop-out…” the blonde said in a sing-songy voice and earning herself a pillow to the face. “Is that really your only reason to not continue something with him? Because of school?”

“School is a very valid reason! Take tonight for example. I thought finishing my notes would take twenty minutes and it ended up taking almost two hours! It’s only the first week back! What’s gonna happen later in the year around mid-terms or finals and I don’t have time for him? That’s also without thinking about the labs that i have to take as well as somehow fitting in an internship plus keeping my job-”

“Wolfgang is a big boy, Kals. He’s not gonna need you to be around him 24/7.” Kala glared at the jab but didn’t move to argue. And if it’s really bothering you that much, then keep being his friend and use him as a fuck buddy.”

“ _Nomi!”_

What?” She asked, cutting off the other blonde girl before she could speak. “As long as he consents to it, there’s no reason for why the two of them shouldn’t partake in an adult relationship where the end result is physical pleasure for the both of them. I mean it’s not like he’d be her first or anything.” Kala squirmed in her position, quickly becoming uncomfortable with the turn that their conversation had taken. “Right Kals?” Kala still didn’t answer and it wasn’t long before she heard the blonde gasp. “ _Kala_! Are you still holding onto your V-Card?”

“So what if I am?”

“There’s nothing wrong with wanting to wait and don’t let Nomi,” Sun said, stopping to glare at the girl in question. “Tell you otherwise.”

“I didn’t say there was anything wrong with it! It’s just, last year, with Max, I thought-”

“He wanted to and tried but I didn’t.” The indian interrupted not wanting to dwell on it. Maxwell Burns had lived on her floor the year before and all of their friends had been convinced that the two of them would end up together. Max had been very much about moving forward physically in their relationship, while Kala had been alot more reluctant.  It had started out fine, with him claiming he didn’t have any problems with the pace they were moving at, but his true feelings quickly came out. He’d guilt her into over the top PDA, touch her without her consent, and Kala spent the short relationship second-guessing her every action and feeling like she was worthless. She had been relieved when he had dumped her for someone faster, deciding instead to focus all of her energy on school and put boys on the back burner. That had been the plan and it had been going well for months. Keyword being _had._

“And I know there’s nothing wrong with waiting.” Kala said, moving forward. “And it’s not like I’m holding out for the _“perfect guy”_ or the _“perfect first time”_ or anything unbelievable like that but...I just want it to be with someone I care about and with someone who cares about me. But like I said, a relationship is the last thing I want right now.”

“And what does Wolfgang want?” Riley asked. Kala shrugged, unsure. “You guys didn’t talk?”

“You kind of interrupted us before we got the chance to.” This admittance earned giggles from the room’s other occupants causing her face to turn red. “I’ll bring it up the next time I see him.”

“Good luck talking with his tongue down your throat.” Nomi said before letting out a squeal as Kala launched at her and began to attack her with a pillow with the other two girls caving and eventually joining in.

* * *

“Wolfgang, while I do like you...no that’s dumb...Wolfgang we should, maybe...This year is just really a lot for me and I don’t think that-”

“Think what?” Kala jumped at the unexpected interruptions to her rambling, embarrassed to turn around and find Wolfgang himself standing behind her. After finally pulling herself out of Nomi’s room, she had spent over an hour trying to figure out how to best approach the subject before deciding she would deal with it later. Now, three days later, and with no less than three missed calls and thirteen unanswered text messages from the German, it seemed that “later” had finally come.

“Wha, what are you doing here?” She asked, trying and failing at appearing nonchalant.

“Well, this is a library and I was planning on getting books, so there’s that.” He said motioning towards the stack of bookcase at her side. “And I wanted to know if you were ready to stop avoiding me.”

“I’m not avoiding you.”

“You wanna try saying that again only this time looking at my face when you do it?” Kala swallowed, tugging the straps of her backpack tighter.

“Wolfgang-”

“Kala, if I did something you didn’t like I’m sorry. I thought-”

“Oh no, it’s nothing like that!” She quickly assured him. “I just, I um, I don’t want, a relationship isn’t really-”

“You don’t want to date me.”

“...It’s not necessarily that I don’t want to, so much as I don’t think that we should.” The Indian watched with baited breath as the boy in front of her thought it over, letting out a breath when he gave her a small smile.

“Okay. That’s fine. Still friends though?” Kala nodded, trying to ignore the slight disappointment at the fact that he had so easily agreed. “Okay. So I’ll see you around then?” Kala nodded again and Wolfgang turned to leave, before suddenly stopping. It took Kala’s brains a few seconds to catch up and realize that the reason he had stopped was because her hand on his arm was literally holding him back. “Kala? Did you want something?”

“We’re both consenting adults right?” She started slowly. Wolfgang’s face of confusion didn’t change but he did turn back around to fully face her which she took as a sign to continue. She took a deep breath before she spoke, attempting to conjure up Nomi’s words from before. “Well...as long as we both consent to it, then...there isn’t any reason for why the two of us shouldn’t partake in an friendship based relationship where the end result of it is mutual...pleasure… for everyone involved.”

“Kala what are you talking about? Mutal pleasure? I don’t under-” Kala witnessed the exact moment that Wolfgang realized what she meant and she could feel her face burning red as he grinned down at her.  

“...Yes...”

“Are you saying you want to be friends-with-benefits?”  

“Um, maybe?”

* * *

 

_Ring, Ring._

“Hey Kals! What’s up?”

_“Nomi, I think I just did something, I shouldn’t have done.”_

“Like what?”

_“So remember when I said I was gonna talk to Wolfgang?”_


	5. New Faces & New Arrangements

_ “This isn’t exactly something you can say ‘maybe’ about. You either want to or you don’t. So do you?” _

_ “Do you?”  _

_ “I asked you first.”  _

_ “I asked you second.”  _

_ “Kala!” The girl in question groaned, wanting nothing more than to sink into the carpets of the library floor and disappear forever. She shrugged.  _

_ “What? We’ve already established that we’re physically attracted to each other and it would be a shame to allow that chemistry to go to waste. There have been numerous scientific studies about how regular sex can be extremely beneficial in the reduction of stress-related problems-” _

_ “And I’m sure you’ve ready enough of them that you could write on of your own.” Wolfgang interrupted. “ This just seems very unlike you. Have you even had one of those kinds of relationships before?” _

_ “…Have you?” _

_ “Stop avoiding my questions.” _

_ “So just because I haven’t had one before means I’m not allowed to have one?” _

_ “That’s not what I meant and you know it. Kala-” _

_ “You know what? Forget it.” Kala said picking up her backpack  from the floor and moving around him. “Just, forget I said anything.” _

_ “Kala, wait.” Wolfgang said, grabbing hold of her arm. She turned to look at him. “I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s just…I don’t want to do this unless it’s something you definitely want. I’ve done this kind of thing before and we weren’t completely honest with each other and it ended up ruining us. We had known each other since we were kids and in less than six months we ruined 10 years of friendship. I don’t want that to happen to us.” All of the tension that had been residing in Kala’s body disappeared as her anger left her system. She wiggled out of the blond’s grasp only to reach over and intertwine her fingers with his. She looked up to find Wolfgang carefully watching her and she gently tugged on his hand. _

_ “Come on.” She said pulling him out of the aisle and towards the stairs. She led him down a floor and not stopping until they had reached one of the group study rooms, quickly pulling him inside and shutting the door behind them. Wolfgang went willingly, the curious expression on his face only growing larger when the room’s other occupant unexpectedly backed him up against the wall. _

_ “Kala, what-” The girl in question didn’t allow him to finish his sentence, leaning up on her toes and kissing him forcefully enough for Wolfgang’s knees to buckle in surprise. His surprise at the situation, however, didn’t last long and soon he was kissing her back, his arms circling around her waist and pulling her flush against his body. Kala grinned, moving her arms to circle his neck, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair. Wolfgang pulled her bottom lip with his teeth and Kala felt a shiver go up and down her spine. The kiss continued for a while and the German’s hands began to drift, one working its way underneath her shirt while to the other found its way down into the back pocket of her jeans. He squeezed firmly and Kala let out a small noise that Wolfgang greedily swallowed. Suddenly, there was the clearing of a throat and the two separated, surprised to find a girl standing in the doorway, looking as embarrassed as Kala felt. _

_ “Um, sorry to uh, break you guys up but I have this room reserved for now, so….” She said quietly and Kala felt the tips of her ears burning in shame. _

_ “Of course. We were leaving anyway. Sorry.” Wolfgang grabbed her hand and the girl nodded as the two of them walked out of the room and headed towards the library’s entrance, neither of them saying anything until they were outside. _

_ “On a scale of one to ten, how scared do you think she is?” _

_ “12. Maybe 13.” Wolfgang laughed and after they were a few feet away from the library stopped walking, Kala falling in line and doing the same. “We finally got the Netflix hooked up to the T.V. and none of my roommates are supposed to be home for another few hours.” _

_ “Wolfgang-” _

_ “We don’t even have to do anything if you don’t want.” _

_ “Actually I-” _

_ “I don’t want to do anything that’s gonna make you uncomfortable.” _

_ “Wolfgang!” Kala literally had to slap her free hand over his mouth to get him to stop talking and she had to hold in a laugh as he went cross-eyed looking at her hand. She removed it. “I have work in an hour.” She explained. “And I still have to go home and shower and change.” Wolfgang’s eyes lit up in understand and he nodded. _

_ “Well, can’t force you to miss work, can I?” He asked earning a shake of the head in response. “Just text me when you’re free then, ya?” Kala nodded and started to leave, but stopped when Wolfgang pulled her back by the hand. She looked up at him expectantly and soon was pulled into a soft kiss. When they pulled apart, Kala had been unsure of what to say and Wolfgang hadn’t given her time to, simply leaving a kiss by her temple before walking away in the opposite direction. _

* * *

“Aaah! Kala that’s so exciting!” The hacker squealed. “You little  _ slut _ ! I’ve trained you so well. I honestly couldn’t be more proud.”

“Nomi…”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just never thought that you would actually take my advice. I feel so important. Is this how Sun and Riley feel all the time?”

“Would you please focus on the problem?”

“Problem? What problem? You sound like you’re doing fine.” Kala sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, quietly regretting the day she ever met the blonde Californian. 

“What. Do I do. Now?”

“You’re friends-with-benefits, babe. You do whatever you want, no expectations, no strings. That’s kind of the whole point.” Nomi said in such a matter-of-fact voice that Kala could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “Do we need to have the birds and bees talk? When a fella likes a girl-”

“See, this is why I don’t tell you things.”

“Okay, okay, okay, I’m sorry. What’s wrong? You said yourself that Wolfgang was completely on board the whole time. He even told you to message him later.” Kala went silent for a few moments, her attention completely trained on her black flats. “Kals?” Nomi called gently. “Babe, you okay?”

“What…what if I’m not good enough?” Kala muttered, her voice barely audible to even her own ears.

“What?”

“He’s done this before, Noms. What if I don’t measure up?”

“Does this have to do with whatever went down last year with Max?” Kala said nothing in response and through the line heard her friend swear angrily in Russian, French and Italian. “I swear to god,” She said when she had finally found her way back to English. “If I ever so much as see that asshole again, I’m gonna cut off his testicles with a dull knife. I don’t know what he did or said to you- _ and I’m not gonna force you to say, you tell us when you’re ready- _ but whatever it was, I need you to know that it was a lie and he never deserved you in the first place.” Kala did her best to fight off a smile but before long she found herself grinning from ear to ear.

“Thanks Nomi. I appreciate it.”

“What are friends for? And if it’s really bothering you that much, talk to Wolfgang about it. I’m sure he’ll understand. And if he doesn’t, Sun’ll just kick his ass until he does.” Kala giggled, the knot of fear that had formed in her chest after leaving the library finally loosening to the point where she didn’t feel like she was suffocating anymore. “Maybe I should start asking you for advice more.”

“I don’t think so.” The blonde said. “Can’t have people start expecting things of me. It’ll ruin my whole ‘ _ don’t care _ ’ persona I’ve got going on.”

“Whatever Noms. Listen, my break’s almost over so I gotta go. I’ll see you later, okay?”

“Okay! Oh! And do make sure to tell Wolfie’s dick I say hi! Who knows? Maybe even give it a little kiss for me-”

“ _ Goodbye Nomi.”  _ She could hear her friend cackling as she hung up the phone and let out a chuckle of her own before unlocking the door and exiting the bathroom stall. She pocketed her phone before washing her hands and giving herself one last look over in the mirror before exiting the bathroom, immediately walking smack dab into someone and sending them both tumbling to the floor. Kala groaned as she waited for the room to stop spinning before attempting to sit up, surprised to see the mass of papers scattered everywhere. The other person had already begun to pick them up and she soon joined in to help. 

“I am so sorry.” She apologized. “I should've been looking where I was going.” 

“it's alright. I wasn't really looking where I was going either so it’s on both of us.” Kala shook her head and looked up, prepared and take full responsibility for the accident when her voice suddenly stuck in her throat. On his hands and knees, less than a full foot away from her, was none other than _Rajan_ _Rasal_.

The Rasal name was one that was well known throughout both India and Europe alike, the family having found generation after generation of financial success in the fields of business, technology, and medicine. In fact, the company she currently worked for, Blue Banner Tech, was the main pharmaceutical distributor for  and supplied pills for a large amount of hospitals both in London and back home in Mumbai. 

The year before, The current CEO of Rasal Industries, Manendra Rasal, announced his plan to retire in five years and had announced his son Rajan as his successor. The Rasals, while very public with anything that considered their business, had been much more private when it came to personal matters to the point that most hadn’t even known that Manendra even had a son. It had been expected that his vice president would take over when he left the company and although he had done numerous interviews where he said that he was perfectly fine and even happy with the decisions, but Kala could see in his eyes that he had been just at blind sighted as everyone else. 

Since the announcement of his takeover of the company, it was unusual to see the younger Rasal male without his father, but after a quick scan of the hall, Kala was relieved to find that they were blessedly alone. The male in question rose to his feet and it was only then that Kala realized she had been staring. She quickly rose to stand on her own as well, once again muttering apologies which he shook away with a wave of his hand. 

“I've done my fair share of running into people. Let's just look at this as the world getting its rightful revenge.” Kala nodded and had just started to turn to leave when he stuck out his hand. “Rajah Rasal. And you are?” 

“Kala Dandekar. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“And you as well. It’s nice to hear a familiar accent from back home. And while I’m sure I’ve already taken up a lot of your time, would you mind if I asked you for a favor?” 

“No, go ahead.” 

“I have a meeting in room CA3 and I’ve already been wandering the building for ten minutes and I can’t seem to find it. Would you mind-”

“I can show you where it is. It’s near my desk.” 

“Great! Shall we?” He asked motioning down the hall causing Kala to let out a small laugh. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion and she pointed in the other direction. 

“It’s that way, actually.” And Rajan ducked his head, embarrassed. “ It’s okay. I got lost a few times my first day too.” She assured him as she started down the long hall, Rajan easily matching her pace. 

“You would think that I would know my way around my father’s buildings.” 

“He seems to have a lot of them. I think that’s excuse enough.” 

“How am I supposed to run a company if I can’t even get to simply energy meeting?” Even though the question ended with a laugh, Kala, who had always taken pride in her ability to read people, could hear the insecurity hidden behind it. 

“I am sure you will do a great job and when you take over, one of your first decisions can be to add larger, clearer signs.” 

“It looks like if I’m gonna get anywhere on time, I’ll have no choice but to.” The two continued their small talk as they walked, and Kala couldn’t help observing the man beside her. 

In most of the videos and pictures that she had seen, Rajan was either clean shaven or sprouting a five o’clock shadow, but now he had a full-grown beard that while full, also looked soft and well-taken care of. His jet-black hair was curlier and longer than she could ever remember seeing it before and it framed his face in a way that made him look younger, not the look of someone who in a short amount of time was going to be one of the decision makers of the world. The suits that he usually wore during public appearances were also gone, and he was dressed in a light pink and white striped button-down and a pair of navy pants with brown shoes. Rajan was one of Mumbai’s most eligible bachelors and while Kala had never been the type to pay attention to those kind of things (they were more her sister’s area of expertise) she couldn’t help but agree that the heir to the Rasal fortune was definitely a catch.

When they had reached the receptionist desk in the lobby, Kala stopped walking. “The room you’re looking for is right there.” She said pointing at a door only a few feet away. “And I wouldn’t worry too much about being late. From what I've observed, most of the meetings don't tend to start on time anyway.” 

“Thank you. I would’ve never found it without you.” 

“I'll make sure to walk into people more often.” Rajan grinned and started to leave but only got about five steps away from her before turning back around. 

“Kala?” 

“Yes?” She took in his expression which only seconds before had been opened and kind and suddenly turned timid and a little guarded. 

“I also wanted to say thank you for treating me as you did.” 

“How did I treat you?” 

“Like a person?” 

“...is there some other way to rest people?” 

“No, it's just -well let me explain.” He started. “I've known from a very young age that taking over the company would be my future and at a very young age I discovered that with my family and my last name, finding people to trust who aren’t looking for something in return is very hard and this last year only helped in cementing that fact. It's refreshing to meet someone who's kind simply for the sake of it. So thank you for that.” 

“You are welcome, Mrs.-” 

“Ms.” Kala couldn't help noticing that Rajan’s small smile brightened considerably after the correction to the point where she was sure she could make out every single one of his teeth. 

“My apologies. Thank you,  _ Ms.  _ Dandekar.” 

“You are very welcome, Mr. Rascal.” Without another word. Rajan turned on his heel and headed confidently towards the boardroom, making sure to send her one last wave before walking in and shutting the door behind him. 

It took the phone ringing four times for Kala to answer it and three tries before she could say her own name without tripping over the letters and fumbling through the intro.

* * *

“Kala! What are you doing here?” The girl in question froze in surprise, shocked to see Felix standing on the other side of the door. 

“Hey Felix.” She said finally finding her voice. “Can I come in?” 

“Freilich!” Kala, who had picked up a few german words over the course of their friendship, grinned in reply before walking in. “What do I owe this pleasure?” 

“Is Wolfgang around?” 

“And here I thought you came to see little old me.” 

“You and I both know that your personality is far too much for me to handle.” 

“Well when you put it like that…”

“So he’s here then?” She asked again. Felix shook his head. 

“No he’s not. He went with Capheus and Will to their rugby practice. They’re trying to convince him to try out for the team and they hoped him seeing them in action would convince him to. What do you want with Wolfie? You need to return another one of his shirts or something?” 

“No, well yes-but that’s not why-I’ll just come back later.” 

“Kals, it’s fine.” Felix said cutting her off mid-sentence. “I’m just teasing is all. They should be back in an hour or so, and feel free to wait here or in his room if you want. Lito might be around, but last time I saw him, his tongue was down some guy’s throat so I’d avoid his room if I were you.” 

“Where are you going?” She asked, watching him pull on his jacket and shoes from beside the door. 

“‘I’ve got class.” 

“You’re leaving me alone in your house?” 

“You plan on burning it down?” 

“Not at this current moment, no.” 

“Then yes I am leaving you alone in my house. I simply ask that if you and Wolfie decide to get frisky, to keep it out of the kitchen and to leave no stains on the couch. House rule.” 

“Felix!” 

“Love you, bye!” The german said quickly shutting the door behind and leaving Kala all alone. She looked around for a bit, trying to decide what to do with herself while she waited. In hindsight, she really should have taken Wolfgang’s advice and texted him before showing up but she had been so hellbent on talking to him that after her shift ended (almost two hours after it was supposed to) she had hurriedly hopped on a bus close to the boys’ house, wanting to have this conversation as soon as possible. Now however that she had reached the house,  the adrenaline that she had been running on from before was completely wiped out of her. The fatigue of her long and emotionally stressful day was starting to show and she kicked off her heels and her blazer in an attempt to feel more relaxed. She contemplated searching for Lito in his room, but when she thought back to Felix’s warning, she quickly let the idea die. She wandered around the living room for a little while before giving into her curiosity and making her way to the stairs before stopping in front of the familiar dark green door, which surprisingly had been left wide open. 

She stood in the doorway of Wolfgang’s room rocking back and forth in her heels. She could just head back down the stairs and out the door and then head home and wait to deal with it all later or she could just walk right in and as long as she left before anyone saw her, none would be the wiser. Just as she was leaning towards the former, the sound of the german’s alarm going off, had her striding into the room to turn it off before she had even taken a second to think about what she was doing. 

With the alarm no longer blaring a song she had never heard of, the realization of just where she was standing hit her and she felt the blood rush to her face in embarrassment, but not enough to get her to leave. Instead, she slowly started walking around, taking in the room. 

The last time she had been there was the night of the party and she hadn’t exactly been the most coherent and the morning after, she had been too concerned with leaving as quickly as possible to really look around. The room itself was a decent size with one wall having been painted a dark grey while the others were a lighter version of the same color. A bookcase sat in one corner with a dresser beside it and across the room stood a large mirror. Various articles of clothing were scattered on the floor but not enough to hinder movement around the space and she could make out what looked like a pile of comics lying under a few inside out t-shirts. Underneath the large window sat a brown desk with various papers covering the top of it and there was a tv mounted on the wall directly across from the bed. Kala glanced at it briefly before turning away from it, her eyes instead catching on the leather bound book sitting on the bedside table. 

Kala gingerly picked it up, turning it over in her hands. The leather was well-worn and soft, clearly from years and years of use. She gently ran a hand over the cover, letting out a gasp of surprise when the front flap fell open, the string she had thought to be holding it together actually having not been tied at all. The majority of her instincts were screaming at her about just how large an invasion of privacy going through the notebook was while the smaller (though somehow louder and sounding an awful lot like Nomi) part, was forcefully telling her to go for it. She was already in his room without his permission so what was adding one more strike to the board gonna do? 

She eventually gave into her curiosity, her fingers opening the other flap, surprised to find a pair of blue eyes looking up at her. Wolfgang had scribbled something in German underneath the sketch but Kala barely looked at it before turning the page.

She quickly realized that it wasn't a notebook at all, but actually the german’s sketchbook, the pages filled with different mediums, including charcoal, color pencils, watercolor and even a few digital prints that had been folded up and stuffed in between sheets. There were quickly drawn outlines of the campus, a picture of students having class outside, a painting of the sunset over the Thames, and even drawings of everyone in their little group of friends. One page showed Sun in the middle of a yoga handstand, another had Lito and Felix napping together in the living room, while a third page held a picture of Riley and Will walking side by side, their fingers only a few inches away from being entangled. 

She had been thinking about texting the Icelander a picture of it when turning to the next image had her heart hammering so fast in her chest that she had to put all of her energy into remembering how to breathe properly. 

When the rise and fall of her chest returned to a normal pace, she focused on the face currently staring up at her: her own. 

Wolfgang had outlined her in black and then filled it in with colored pencils as well as having drawn her from the shoulders up, the top of her shirt barely able to be seen. He had drawn her smiling in such a way that it looked like she had just come down from a fit of giggles, the traces of mirth still clear on her face. Her hair was a curly mess framing her head and she even had one falling into her eye. Her cheeks were the faintest shade of red and her lips were shiny, her top teeth biting into her lower one. Her eyelashes were longer than she thought possible and the crinkles he had drawn around her eyes, that usually would have had Kala feeling self-conscious, instead warmed her insides. He had clearly put in a lot of effort into making sure that he got all of her features exactly right. 

Eventually, looking at herself got uncomfortable and she closed the book and placed it back down on the table unsure what to make of it. She had never seen him carrying the notebook around with him though it was clear that he used it often. It was also clear that she was never meant to see the picture but now that she had seen it, she couldn’t stop thinking about it and turned on the TV, flipping until she found something that caught her interest enough to keep watching. Soon, she found herself sinking into the mattress and getting comfortable against the headboard and snuggling a pillow to her chest as she watched. The characters in the show droned on and on about whatever comedic thing was happening in their lives and Kala felt her eyelids getting lower and lower until she couldn't even remember hearing the tv anymore, having fallen asleep. 

* * *

When she woke up, she was shocked to find that she wasn't in her room before the events of the day came rushing back. She tried to sit up but found it impossible when an arm around her waist pulled her firmly against the other body in the bed and she felt someone nuzzle the side of her neck, muttering in a language she didn't know.  _ Wolfgang. _

Her phone wasn't within arms reach so she couldn't see the time, but the dark sky outside the window let her know that it was far later than she had intended to stay. She reached down to remove Wolfgang’s arm only to have the boy in question attempt to intertwine their fingers. 

_ “Stay.”  _ He muttered, nose buried in her hair. Kala flushed. 

“I have to go home.” 

“It's too late. It's safer for you to stay here and I want you safe.” He said placing a kiss behind her ear. Kala flushed at the affection and turned around to face him head-on. The german’s eyes were open and he had a soft smile on his face that Kala couldn't help returning. “I was expecting a phone call, not you in my bed. Not that I'm complaining in the slightest.” He said, the arm around her waist slipping just under her shirt, his thumb rubbing small circles on her hip. “How long were you waiting here?” 

“I don't know. A few hours maybe?” 

“You missed me so much that you had to come see me in person?” 

“That's very conceited of you. Maybe I got lost on my way to Lito’s room. Or Felix’s. He has been hitting on me for years and always goes out of his way to make sure I know that he's always wanted to visit India-” 

“Lito is as gay as they come and Felix hits on anything with a pulse.” The blond said rolling over so that he was now on top of her, using his upper body strength to hover over her. “If you were trying to make me jealous you're gonna have to do better than that.” 

“Why? Were you jealous?” 

“...a little…” Kala laughed, the majority of the sound getting swallowed into a kiss that she couldn't help but relax into. She wanted to keep it chaste and when just as she was about to pull back from it, he did the work for her. 

“So, you went through my notebook?” 

“No, well I-what notebook?” 

“Kala…” 

“How'd you know?” 

"Besides the fact that you just told me? I left it on the other side of the table. It's very rude to go through someone else's stuff, ya know. I'd expect this kind of behavior from Nomi but not you..."

"Blame it on sleep deprivation."

"So is that what you came over here for then?" He asked leaning down until their faces were so close that their noses were touching. "Because you wanted to sleep? Specifically with me?"

"No, I came over because I wanted to talk to you."

"Talk? I can think of someone much more fun than talking..."

"Wolfgang. Please." The male in question groaned but dutifully climbed off and instead got comfortable leaning against the headboard. Kala maneuvered around until she was facing him, her knees pulled tight to her chest. "Thank you."

"Of course. What did you want to talk about?"

"Our arrangement."

"And what arrangement is that exactly?"

"...The one we discussed earlier."

"Which one is that exactly?"

"You _know_  which one."

"Unfortunately, my memory isn't always so good and sometimes I needed to be reminded of certain agreements." Kala glared and the blond grinned, "Was the agreement regarding us trading notes for class?"

"No it did not."

"Homework then?"

"No."

"Are you planning on joining the rugby team too?"

"Wolfgang!"

"Wait a minute, I think it's beginning to come back to me now. I finally found you in the library after you'd been avoiding me-"

"I was not avoiding you!"

"And I asked you out and you turned me down before deciding to draw me in an illicit affair-"

" _Wolfgang_ -"

"And you then you snuck me down to dark corner to have your way with me-"

"I'm a virgin." Both Kala and Wolfgang froze at the statement, and Kala hid her face in shame when she realized what she had just said.

"You're  _what_?"

"I really gotta get home, I'm sure Riley is still awake-" Before she could even begin reaching for her phone, Wolfgang had reacted, moving until they were in their previous positions with Kala on her back and the German hovering over her.

"You're a virgin?" He asked his voice barely above a whisper. Kala slowly nodded. "How much? If you had to put a number to it?"

"About 95 percent."

"And you're sure that this is something you want to do? Shouldn't you want your first with someone special and someone you trust?"

"I do trust you!" She hurriedly assured. "And besides the whole thing with virginity being sacred and everything is ridiculous anyway. In fact, some scientists believe that the actual original purpose of the hymen was to keep out dirt and bacteria especially during the embryological stage of development and as we get older it becomes almost like the appendix in the regards that we have it but we don’t actually need it and to put so much focus on something that honestly doesn’t matter is outrageous because it’s known that it can tear through just vigorous physical activity like horseback riding or inserting a tampon or during a exam from the gynecologist-” 

_ “Kala! Breathe.”  _ She nodded and did as she was told, shakily taking in a large gulp of air she didn't know she needed. “Good. And I thought Felix could ramble. Look, if you still want to do this, I'm all in but if you don't and you wanna back out, well, I'm okay with that too.” 

“Really?” 

“My balls might have some complaints but they'll get over it eventually.” 

“I'm going to pretend you didn't say that and ruin what could have been a beautiful moment. What time is it anyway?” Wolfgang sat up and reached for his phone, only glancing at it before turning back to the girl beneath him. 

“Its after three in the morning. Sorry, love. Looks like you're stuck here with me till sunrise. Now the only question is what we could do to pass the time until then…” 

“Sleep.” 

“But-” 

“We both have class in the morning and we've already wasted too much time talking.” She gently pushed on his chest to get him off of her and dumbfounded, he went. She took great care getting comfortable under the covers, making sure to keep an eye on Wolfgang at all times, hardly able to keep a smile off her face at his confused reaction. When she was finally settled, she closed her eyes and laid still. The room was silent for all of ten seconds before Wolfgang pounced on her, pulling her back to his chest and tickling her sides while laying kisses up and down her neck, speaking in between each one. 

“You.”  _ kiss.  _ “Sneaky.”  _ kiss. _ “Little.”  _ kiss. _ “Minx.” Kala couldn't help giggling at the onslaught of the blond’s hands and every time she tried to get away, he kept managing to pull her back. 

“ _ Wolfie please! I can- _ haha _ -Wolfie! Stop!”  _ The german eventually gave in, stopping his torture but still keeping her pulled in close to his body. “Thank you.” She said when her laughter had finally died down, getting comfortable once again.”But I meant it when I said we needed to sleep.” 

“ _ Fine.  _ But word of advice: Next time you wanna “ _ talk”,  _ let’s not do it in my bed, yeah? My feeble body can only take so much pain.” Kala rolled her eyes at his over exaggeration, but couldn't keep the smile off her face and she knew that Wolfgang could see it as well. 

“Duly noted.” 

“And since you're taking notes? I usually hate whenever someone calls me Wolfie.” 

“...But?” 

“ _ But... _ with you? I don't mind as much. At all actually. Feel free to do it whenever you want.” This time Kala didn't even try to hide her smile. 

“Duly noted.” 


	6. Girls Night, Brownies & Lunch

“So how big is his dick?” Kala rolled her eyes at the question and Sun let out an exasperated sigh from her seat at the breakfast bar.

“Nomi, I'm eating.”

“Then I suggest putting in your headphones because we’re having this conversation wether you like it or not.” The blonde stated, flopping down on an open spot of the couch beside Kala and stared at her in question. Kala kept her eyes trained on the book in her lap. “Is it long? Is it long? Is it thick? Does it curve it to the left or right? What does?”

“If you're so interested,” Kala started through clenched teeth. “Why don't you have sex with him and find out yourself?”

“Because you're already doing that, I thought it was obvious.” 

Kala finally looked up from her book and glared at her friend who simply looked back at her with the purest expression of innocence she could muster. Kala didn’t buy it for a second.

“And what makes you think I’ve slept with him?”

“Well considering the fact that last night was the second time you’ve slept over his place- _and_ _in his bed I might add-”_

“Considering the fact that I was _drunk_ the first time-”

“I would think that you would have tapped that by now or have at least _tried_.” Kala shrugged, making her way into the kitchen and sitting on the seat beside Sun. She hoped that the blonde would drop it and not follow her. She was let down when the book was snatched away from her hands, Nomi holding it over her head and staring down at her from her position across the breakfast bar. I’m not gonna leave you alone so you might as well just give in and talk to me.”

“Sun…”

“Nomi, if she doesn’t want to talk about it, she doesn’t have to. She doesn’t owe you anything just because you’re nosy and bored.” The Korean stated, Kala nodding in agreement. Nomi rolled her eyes. 

“If she doesn’t trust her best friends to talk about this with, then who? I’m simply trying to be supportive.”

“Why aren’t you ever this “supportive” about Will and Riley?” Kala asked earning a shrug. 

“Because Will is waiting for Riley to make a move and she’s so convinced that he doesn’t like her that she’s never going to no matter what anybody says. _It’s exhausting_ and a waste of my precious energy.”

“Well, then why don’t we ever talk about your love life?”

“…What love life?”

“What about your TA that you kissed? What happened to her?”

“I should really get going, I’ve got class-” Kala and Sun shared a look before quickly running to the other side of the table, each of them grabbing an arm and forcibly dragging her towards the living room, Sun’s bowl completely forgotten.

“Oh _no._ ” Kala cackled. “Absolutely _not_. With the amount of crap that you give us all the time, there’s no way we’re letting this go.” 

“But my class-”

“You only have one class today and you already slept through it.” Sun confirmed as they sat on the couch. “Nice try. Now talk. What happened?” Nomi looked at them both before sighing, allowing her body to melt into the worn leather, a frown crossing her features.

“Nothing happened, okay? That’s the problem.” Kala furrowed her eyebrows.

“I don’t understand.” The frown on Nomi’s face got deeper.

“She sits at the front of the class everyday, answering questions and helping people with their programingand just being so unbelievably _beautiful_ and everytime she looks at me, it’s like…it’s like she deosn’t even see me _._ I’ve spent the last year dreaming about the moment where I would see her again and she would look at me and I would look at her and everything would fall into place..but…but…”

“Oh Noms.” At Sun’s words, Nomi sank even futher into the sofa and Kala couldn’t help wrapping a protective ar around her. She saw Sun do the same. 

“She doesn’t even remember me.”

“You don’t know that. Maybe she’s just being very professional.” Kala suggested. “She is technically your teacher and if word were to get out that she was inappropriately fratinizing with a student-”

“It could possibly ruin her carrer before it even starts, something I’m sure you don’t want.” Nomi mulled over the idea before eventually slowly nodding. 

“Yeah…I, I guess that makes sense.” Just then the door opened and all three girls turned to see Riley standing in front of the now closed door, her car keys in one hand and her backpack in the other. She took in the appearance of her three roommates before dropping both of them and wordlessly making her way over the the couch and situating herself on Nomi’s lap, Sun hooking her chin over her shoulder while Kala made room for the Icelander’s legs to lie across her own.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said, one of her hands gently stroking the blonde’s hair. “But I can promise that whoever hurt you like this doesn’t deserve you.” Nomi scoffed, pulling her close.

“I don’t deserve her.” She muttered causing the three girls around her to rush to console her. Eventually the blonde gave in, nodding along to the compliments and even cracking a few jokes at the expense of the others. 

“Well, since we’re all home and done for the day,” Kala promoted when she felt the worst of the storm had passed. “Why don’t we have a girls night in, yeah? Order pizza, watch movies-” 

“I do have a new face mask recipe I wanted to try. And Sun you did say you wanted to try out some of your fighting techniques before you teach them next week…” 

“Can we order mushroom and pepperoni?” Nomi asked in a small voice that didn’t fit her. “And watch _Kingsman_?”

“Even though you can quote it by heart?” Riley teased earning a poke in the side from the Californian.

“What? It’s a _good_ movie! Besides Colin Firth is in it. I’m telling you guys, if I were straight and only a few years older-” 

“Livia wouldn’t stand a chance, we _know_.” Nomi pouted as her roommates answered in sync, but this one barely stayed on her face, quickly disappearing and giving way to a large grin, her fingers sinking into Riley’s sides and mercilessly tickling her until the two of them ended up in a heap on the floor. Sun sighed affectionlly before getting off the couch and making her way to the hall closet, pulling out their extra blankets and pillow and throwing them at the still wrestling girls. Kala headed towards the kitchen, opening up cupboards to see if they had anything edible and internally jumped for joy at finding that they had all the ingredients for brownies. She had just finished mixing in the cocoa powder when her phone chirped on her hip, the House Stark emblem popping up the screen.

_Just got home and saw that you waiting for me this time and got sad. It’s too cold without you. You should come help me warm it ;)_

Kala grinned at the text and looked up to ensure that her roommates were occupied, before quickly typing back. 

_Sorry, can’t. We’re having a girls night. Don’t think they would appreciate it too much if I ditched them just because you’re cold and too lazy to get a blanket haha :p_

She even attached a picture of Nomi and Sun hitting Riley with pillows for good measure, the grins on their faces clear even from her distance in the kitchen. She had barely stirred it three times before another chirp let her know he had replied. 

_Why aren’t you with them?_

_Cause brownies don’t make themselves._ She responded, snapping a photo of herself and the homemade mix and sending it off. She had just put the pan into the oven and had started on the second batch when her phone went off for the third time.

 _First you won’t come cuddle with me and now I get no sweets too? And all this time I thought you liked me_ _L_

_Poor baby…If there’s any left over (There won’t be. Riley will make sure of that) I’ll bring you one. How about that?_

_You’re the best Friends-With-Benefits a guy could ask for Kala._

The Indian smirked at the affection, her hands already starting on another dozen or so before she had even given it any real thought. With all three pans done and in the oven and the timer set, she headed upstairs and changed into her pajamas before heading back downstairs and joining her friends. They had finally calmed down and after moving the coffee table, had spread blankets and quilts all over the floor as well as having dragged pillows and sheets from all of the bedrooms and spreading them out as well, Nomi comfortably snug between Sun and Riley, Kala falling into the waiting spot on Riley’s other side, the _Kingsman_ title screen already pulled up on the TV, Nomi vibrating in excitement.

Riley hadn’t been kidding when she said Nomi could quote the film, something she shamelessly did, the others joining in at the parts they knew from having been subjected to watching it so many times. By the time the movie ended, the pizza had arrived and the brownies were done (Kala taking care to stash the third pan away before the others could see it) and they settled down with their snacks before continuing the Colin Firth train and popping in _Mamma Mia!_ , all four girls trying to sing louder than the others, and more often than not, being just a bit off-key.

After _Nanny McPhee,_ it was decided that it was time for bed, all four girls opting to leave the mess in the living room to be cleaned another day. They stumbled to their separate rooms, Kala sinking to her bed and almost falling asleep immediately, but not before she saw that she had received one final message from the German that had a scoff falling from her lips at the same time that a smile crossed it. 

_May your dreams be as sweet as I’m sure your brownies are, Ms. Dandekar. Hopefully a few of them will even be staring me. :)_

_Good night Wolfie._

* * *

“What is this?”

“Open it and find out.” Blue eyes met hers hesitantly before reaching out and pulling the small colorful bag towards him. Kala took the empty seat beside him on the picnic bench, her fingers twitching nervously. Wolfgang pulled off the twist-tie holding the bag together, his apprehensive expression quickly changing to one of joy upon seeing what lay inside.

“You actually baked me brownies?” He asked turning to face her. Kala tried to shrug it off.

“You got lucky. Riley was too full to finish them. I wouldn’t count on it happening again.” Wolfgang smirked at her, clearly not believing a word she was saying but nodded along anyway.

“It seems I have been full of luck since coming to London, hmm? First running into Felix and ending up in the house, and then I got to meet you and now I’ve been gifted with delicious brownies-”

“How do you know they’re delicious if you haven’t even tried them?” Wolfgang arched an eyebrow at her question before reaching into the bag and pulling out one of the sweets and taking a bite. He hummed at the taste.

“Just as sweet as the girl who made them.” Kala let out a huff as she reached over and pulled the brownie out of his hand, taking a bite of it herself.

“You are incredibly corny, you know that?”

“A few people have mentioned it, yes. Still, manages to make you blush, though.” Kala rolled her eyes.

“I do not blush.”

“And what do you call what you’re doing right now?” 

“…The sun is very hot and is clearly causing you to see things that aren’t there.” Once again the brownie changed hands as Wolfgang took it back, shoving the rest of it into his mouth. “Those aren’t just for you, ya know. I expect you to share with the other boys.” 

“Do the others know about them?” 

“Well no, but-”

“Then I guess I’m not sharing.”

“Wolfgang!” 

“Would you look at the time. I’ve got work soon and should really be heading over.”

“Are you serious right no-”

“Thanks for the sweets.” Wolfgang interrupted, pulling Kala into a sweet kiss before hopping up from the bench and after sending a wave and a wink at her, headed off away from the table, leaving the girl to ponder their entire interaction as well as the boy who was quickly becoming a constant fixture in her life.

* * *

“Ms. Dandekar, what a nice surprise.” Kala looked up at the use of her last name smiling upon seeing who it was that was standing in front of her.

“Mr. Rasal. How have you been?” The young heir scrunched up his nose and shook his head, a small gagging sound falling from his lips. 

“Please. I don’t want to be called “ _Mr. Rasal”_ until I absolutely have to be. It’s Rajan.”

“Well then it’s only fair if you refer to me by my first name as well, don’t you think?” Kala asked in a mock-serious tone that had the man in front of her mimicking as he nodded continuously. 

“My sincerest apologies. I’m actually very glad that I was able to find you.”

“At my desk?” She chirped, humor clear in her voice. “Where I work? You’re right, this is a very odd place to find me.” 

“In my defense, every time I have tried to come see you, you haven’t been here.”

“Well, clearly you’re on the wrong schedule.” Rajan knocked over her cup of pens in retaliation, apologizing profusely and rushing to help when some of them tumbled onto the floor. 

“I am so incredibly sorry.” He repeated rising to his feet and holding out a hand to Kala to help her to her own. “Please. Let me make it up to you or I will never forgive myself.”

“You want to buy me a new set of highlighters?” Kala joked as she stood up, the cup of pens in her free hand. Rajan chuckled.

“I was actually hoping you’d let me take you to lunch.” Kala felt her heart stop beating out of shock, as she turned to see Rajan standing a lot closer than she remembered him being a second before, her right hand still clasped in his left. She quickly untangled them before walking around her desk and hurriedly retaking her seat.

“That’s a lot of repayment for something small, Rajan.” 

“Well, I suppose there is the possibility of me having an ulterior motive to asking you to lunch.” Kala’s eyes widened at the proposition and as she swallowed nervously, she could swear everyone within ten miles of the building could hear it.

“Wha, what is it?” Rajan grinned, leaning down so that the two of them were eye-level, their faces only a few inches away.

“You have to go to lunch with me to find out.”

“I don’t know…” 

“You won’t regret it I promise, and if you decide that you don’t like what I have to say, then you can pretend like it never happened and I’ll never bring it up again.” He pleaded, his brown eyes large and open. Kala could feel her resolve quickly crumbling. “I know this great curry place only a few blocks from here. Plus, I do honestly feel really bad about the pens.” Kala laughed.

“Well, I can’t argue with that logic.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“…I’m free at noon tomorrow.”

“Wouldn’t you know it, so am I. Looks like I’m finally getting on the right schedule.”

“Looks like it.” Rajan moved to say something else but stopped when his phone beeped, alerting him to a new message. He slowly let out a long sigh after opening it and reading what it said.

“I wish I could stay to chat, but unfortunately I am needed elsewhere.” Kala shrugged smphatetically, even though she couldn’t deny that there was a small part of her that was overjoyed at the fact that he was leaving so she could mentally freakout in private. “How about we meet in front of the building tomorrow at 11:45?” Kala nodded earning a grin in return. “Perfect! Oh, and also: One last quick thing?” 

“Yes?”

“If I were to go looking for Conference Room J, I would go where exactly?” Kala smirked at the sheepish expression on Rajan’s face but thought better of teasing his inability to find his meetings.

“Up two floors and it’ll be the third door on your right.” She said without missing a beat, turning back to her computer as he took off towards the nearby elevator.

 “What would I do without you?” He asked, hitting the up button, the doors almost opening instantly.

“Get lost clearly.” Rajan’s laugh filled the hall as he got on, nodding in agreement.

“I’ll make sure to remember how mean you were to me when I inherit the company.”

“And I’ll make sure to remind you about my two broken pens.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oohh! What's gonna happen??? I know I'm super shitty about updating on a schedule and I feel like this is a short chapter but I haven't abandoned this story at all and I have every intention of seeing it through to the end. Much love and hugs and kisses to you all <3
> 
> Also, it's very possible that Nomi's feelings about Colin Firth are my own personal ones but that's neither here nor there haha :3


	7. An Insecurity, An Offer, & A Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M BACK!!!! 
> 
> I just want to say a massive thank you to all of you guys for sticking with me and this story even though it seemed like I had abandoned it. I'm very recently coming out of a super bad months-long depressive episode and getting out of bed every day was difficult, let alone finding the want/ability to write. But I have every intention of finishing this story (as well as my others!) so please keep with me on this journey! I also have no idea where I'm going with this as for the most part I don't really plan out my stories so much as I let them happen as I'm writing so even though I have a vague idea of the ending, we're gonna be discovering this story at the same time hahaha. It's been forever since I've written anything, so hopefully, it's on par with everything else I've written :3
> 
> Anyway, I love you, thank you all for being patient with me, and if you too happen to be suffering from mental illness please seek help! It doesn't mean you're weak! You're loved and deserve to be here! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter and as always reviews or appreciated! <3

“It’s a date, Kala!”

“It’s not a date!”

“He’s taking you to lunch!”

“It’s a business lunch!” Kala watched Nomi roll her eyes at the statements, not at all surprised at her friend’s remarks at hearing about Rajan’s proposition. She actually hadn’t even been intending on telling her roommate, at least not until after it had already happened. It wasn’t until she was halfway through explaining it to Sun that the blonde had jumped out from her hiding place, her eyes wide with glee. Sun had shot Kala a look of apology before pulling out another cup from the cupboard and going about pouring the other girl a cup of tea.

“How does Wolfgang feel about it?” Kala paused as she raised her cup to her lips and her brow furrowed in confusion. Telling Wolfgang about the lunch hadn’t even crossed her mind. She shrugged, continuing to raise the cup to her mouth and took a sip.

“I haven’t told him.”

“Well, when are you going to?” Kala shrugged again.

“I don’t know. Why should I?”

“Why wouldn’t you?”

“Because it’s not important? My meeting with Rajan is strictly for work, Nomi.”

“Well…then why wouldn’t you tell him?” Kala turned, surprised at Sun’s statement and from Nomi’s expression, it seemed that the other girl was surprised as well. “It’s just…if it is, really for work like you said, why wouldn’t you tell him?”

“Because our intimate relationship doesn’t involve my job!”

“But what about your relationship as his friend? I mean, would you keep this from any of the other guys?”

“Well, no…”

“Then, why would you keep it from Wolfgang? If it really is only for work?”

“Whose side are you on Sun?”

“I am always and forever on your side. I am simply saying that Nomi has a viable point for what could possibly be the first time in her life.”

“Ha! Hey!”

“The most important aspect of friends-with-benefits” Sun continued, “Is the fact that at the end of the day you are friends. The only probable way for the relationship to work is if the friendship is still treated the way as it was before everything else was added on top of it.” As her two roommates went about cleaning the kitchen-the T.A. Nomi was in love with had supposedly flirted with another student during class and the blonde had stress-baked 40 cookies because of it-Kala thought it over. Why didn’t she want to tell Wolfgang?

Had Rajan been flirting with her? Like actually? She replayed their conversations in her head, and nothing jumped out at her as being flirtatious or forward. He had been nothing but friendly and cordial with her, no reason to suspect ulterior motives or that their lunch tomorrow would be anything but two colleagues having a meal together. No real reason to hide it from someone, especially not a friend.

With that in mind, Kala quickly stood up from her kitchen stool, grabbing her purse and her keys from where she left them on the couch.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“To find Wolfgang.”

“What? Why?”

“We have some things to discuss as friends.”

“Good.” Nomi opened her mouth to say something else but was interrupted by Kala’s phone ringing, Wolfgang’s name flashing across the screen.

“Speaking of…” She muttered before answering the call. “Hey Wolfgang.”

_“Hi, Kala. I didn’t catch you at a bad time did I?”_

“No, you didn’t. I was just about to call you actually.”

_“Perfect! Would you mind meeting me at the library?”_

“Now?”

_“Within the next ten minutes, yeah.”_

“Sure!” Kala responded. “I’ll be there. See ya soon.”

_“Bye Kala.”_

“Goodbye, Wolfgang.” Kala hung up the phone and nearly jumped a foot in the air when she turned and found Nomi standing less than a foot away from her face.

“What did he say?”

“He wants to meet up to talk.”

“Oh my god! Do you think he’s proposing?”

“Nomi, he’s not proposing.” Sun yelled from the kitchen.

“Who’s not proposing?” The three turned to see Riley enter the house, her car keys in one hand and her backpack in the other.

“Wolfgang asked Kala on a date to propose to her.” Riley’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head and looked away from the other blonde to Kala for confirmation. The girl in question shook her head as she brushed past her.

“She’s a liar, I’m leaving, I’ll see you when I get back.”

“But Kals, where are you going?”

“To meet Wolfgang, but _not_ so he can propose. I’ll explain when I get back I promise.” Riley still looked like she wanted to ask something but nodded and let it slide, Kala sending her a quick smile before slipping out the door.

* * *

“It hadn’t taken long for Kala to spot Wolfgang when she entered the library, the German having sequestered himself at one of the small round tables by the front entrance. He was heavily engrossed in what he was whatever he was writing not noticing Kala’s presence until she had slid into the seat beside him, startling him slightly in the process. “Sorry.” She apologized. “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

“It’s fine. I needed a distraction anyway.”

“What are you studying?”

“I’m attempting to copy Felix’s notes for one of my classes but on top of barely being able to read his handwriting, he doesn’t exactly...take notes?” Kala looked as confused as Wolfgang did. “Like, he’ll start with what’s being said and then halfway through the line, he’ll have written about something he remembered he needed to do for the next day and then he just jumps back into the old thought. I’m probably better off just guessing at this point.” Kala giggled.

“Honestly, I’m shocked that he even takes notes at all.” Wolfgang snorted in response before pushing all of the papers away from him and turning to fully face the girl beside him.

“So, what did you want to talk to me about?” Kala’s eyes widened slightly in surprise, something in her not quite ready to bring up Rajan.

“You first.” she countered, earning a shrug in return.

“Well, I actually didn’t really have anything to tell you so much as things I needed to give you. One,” Kala watched as Wolfgang reached for something on his other side out of her range of sight before straightening back up with a small plastic bag in his hand. “I wanted to give you back your clothes that you left the other night.” Kala blinked in surprise, having completely forgotten about them.

“Thank you.” She quickly took it from him and slipped it into her backpack before reaching back turning around to face him once more. “I really like that shirt and probably would have ended up accusing Nomi of taking it. You just saved us from what could have been a very bad fight.” Wolfgang chuckled at the comment.

“I do what I can. It seems that most of our friendship so far has consisted of you leaving your clothing at my house.”

“Well, that wouldn’t be a problem if I didn’t seem to keep getting talked out of them.”

“You and I have very different definitions of the word _problem_.” Kala could feel her cheeks growing warm and playfully shoved him only to have Wolfgang pull her arm back and lace her fingers with his, squeezing slightly.

“You’re disgusting.”

“And you’re still holding my hand.”

“Tha-that’s besides the point.” She stuttered. “Anyway, what was the second thing you wanted?” She questioned before he could embarrass her again. Instead of answering, Wolfgang leaned in a few inches until his lips were pressed against hers. Kala couldn’t suppress the giggle that bubbled out of her throat and slipped through her lips but the blond didn’t seem to mind, chuckling along with her. He eventually pulled back first, a soft smile spreading across his lips that Kala couldn’t help mirroring in return.

“So. Now that all of my stuff is out of the way, what did you want to talk about?” Kala blinked twice, before nodding, mulling over how to start in her head, a small piece of herself questioning why she was having such a problem bringing it up.

“Do you know anything about Rasal Industries?” She finally managed to say and when the table's other occupant shook his head she took a deep inhale before continuing. “Well, long story short, they are a global corporation and are one of the major leaders in the fields of medicine and technology. The lab I’m doing my internship at has a partnership with them and they’re working together on some top-secret project that you basically have to sign a waiver of silence for before you’re even allowed to set foot in any of the rooms.” Wolfgang nodded to show he was following along as well as giving Kala’s hand a supportive squeeze. “Well, the other day I ended up running into the son of the CEO and I gave him directions on where his meeting was.”

“Kala, are you gonna tell me that he asked you on a date or something?” Wolfgang joked but the laugh died in his throat when he noticed she wasn’t laughing along. “Wait a minute. Did he ask you out on a date?”

“No! No, nothing like that.” She assured. “He asked me to meet him for lunch tomorrow so he could discuss something with me.”

“Kala, that sounds like a date.”

“I’m very positive it’s work related. He’d have no other reason-”

“I can think of a few reasons-”

“Wolfgang, I’m serious.” The male sighed and looked away muttering something under his breath in German before looking back up to meet her eyes.

“Well,” He started. “If you don’t think it’s a date, then why did you feel the need to tell me about it?” Luckily, Kala already had this answer prepared.

“Because we are friends and as my friend, I would want you to be excited about an opportunity that could possibly help my future career.” Wolfgang deflated slightly before letting out a sigh.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I’m sorry for...you know, reacting like that. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Kala arched an eyebrow before leaning in against his shoulder with her upper body turned towards him.

“Wolfie,” She muttered, feeling him stiffen beside her. “Are you jealous? Again?” It was now the male’s turn to jokingly push the other away but making no move to stop her when she scooted back. “Do you get jealous often?”

“...Not intentionally.” The two broke into a fit of giggles and Kala watched Wolfgang relax once more as he brought his free hand to the one of Kala’s he was already holding. “It’s not an ownership thing, I swear. I just...I don’t get attached easily so when I do, it can be a little hard for me to ease up. I’ll work on it though.” He promised. “I actually. am kind of glad this happened because it touches on something I think we need to talk about.”

“What’s that?”

“Whether or not we’re exclusive.” Kala narrowed her eyes, the male’s response having been unexpected.

“Like as in us seeing being together and seeing other people? Do you want to see other people?” Wolfgang shook his head reassuringly.

“No. Absolutely not. I have no interest in seeing anyone but you.” Kala warmed at the sentence but did notice that his wording was so specific that she couldn’t tell if it was in regards to their current arrangement or a different one. “I know that you said you weren’t looking for a relationship right now, but...should that change...and should you want to date someone else, I’d want us to stop. I don’t have any interest in being the other man.” Kala nodded in understanding.

“Same for you. I’m fine if you want to see someone else, but I don’t want to be seeing you at the same time. I want us to be honest and to put our friendship first.”

“Deal. “ Kala smiled, feeling as if a weight she hadn’t even realized she had been carrying was lifted off of her shoulders. “Is there anything else you wanna talk about?”

“No, and I think I’m done attempting to read Felix’s chicken scratch for one night.” He gathered all of the papers before shoving them into his bag and rising to his feet. He held out a hand to Kala and helped her to stand as well.” Do you want to come over?” He asked. Kala hesitated as she thought it over. Being a tactile person, Kala had always enjoyed cuddling (being friends with Nomi basically made it to the point where she didn’t have a choice) and she had to admit the past couple of times where she had woken up still wrapped in Wolfgang’s embrace had been nice…

“I have class in the morning and the meeting and then homework and work after-”

“Even more reason for you to come over tonight since I won’t get to see you tomorrow.”

“I don’t know…” She responded, already hearing how weak her voice sounded. Wolfgang laughed wrapping his arms around her waist and burying his face in her neck.

“What if I said please?” He murrmered, peppering the area in light kisses. “Please, please, please Kala with sugar on top?” Kala couldn’t contain her loud laugh, only quiteting down after the two of them had recieved more than a few death glares for being so loud in a library.

“Okay, okay! Yes, I’ll come over. I’m not staying the night though. I need to sleep in my own bed.”

* * *

“At the rate you’re going, we should probably start looking for a new roommate.”

“What?”

“Well considering the fact that these days you seem to be sleeping in Wolfgang’s bed more than your own-”

“Weren’t you the one who wanted was me to be in a realtionship with Wolfgang?”

“Did I ever say it was a bad thing?” Kala rolled her eyes at the blonde standing in her doorway before turning back to her vanity. She had expected the teasing-and much worse if she was being honest with herself-when she unlocked the door to her apartment that morning and found not one but all three of her roommates milling about in the foyer.

After following Wolfgang back to his house the two had ordered take-out from a local Indian place (Kala had warned the German that it was the only authenthic one for miles and that under no circumstances was he allowed to order from anywhere else. He pinky swore he wouldn’t) before settling down on the living room sofa. The other boys had slowly trickled in, stopping every now and then to talk and Felix had even joined them for a while, teasing them both until Wolfgang made fun of his handwriting causing him to sulk off to his room not long after. When it was rounding one in the morning, Kala made a half-hearted attempt to leave before being coaxed up to Wolfgang’s room with murmurs of “its too late” and “my bed’s too big for me to sleep in by myself” in in her ear that she couldn’t help but give in to.

Once they had both changed into more comfortable clothing (Wolfgang hadn’t even tried to hide his smug appearnce when when she realized why they looked familiar) the two had tumbled into the sheets, the muted TV being the only source of light in the room. They had talked in hushed tones for a little while and Kala hadn’t been surprised when the blond had started laying kisses along the angles of her face before finally finding her lips, which she eagerly returned. He had then rolled on top of her, pressing her body into the mattress with his own as one hand snuck up her body to slip into her hair while his other stayed on the bed beside them.

Kala’s own fingers found their way around his neck to pull him closer and the male went willingly, albeit surprised if the small gasp he let out was anything to go on. Kala moved one of her hands down his chest until it reached the bottom of his shirt and she navigated around it, letting her nails gently scrap against his side. Wolfgang let out a sigh at the feeling before detaching his lips from hers and moving instead to gently nip at her neck, confidently reapeating the action when she did nothing to stop him. Soon, her other hand joined her first beneath his shirt and it wasn’t long before she was inching the fabric higher and higher in an attempt to pull it off. Wolfgang had eventually gotten the hint and had leaned far enough away to pull it off and toss aside before coming back down to kiss her once more, the matching of their lips getting more heated by the second. Kala gently ran her fingers down the front planes of his chest, his lower abs tensing at her touch as his left hand found its way to lay on top of her stomach, the thin t-shirt doing nothing to hide the heat that was radiating from the gentle pressure of his palm. She kept expecting his hand to make the same journey hers had but it never did. Instead, she found their kisses slowing down and becoming more chaste until the german pulled away completely and shooting her a lazy grin. She was about to ask what he was doing when to her surprise he climbed off of her completely before moving to lay behind her, the hand on her stomach moving to wrap around her waist and gently tug her back to his chest. Kala laid there dumbfounded as she caught her breath and she could hear that he was breathing just as hard behind her as he mumbled something about _‘needing to go to bed before we miss class’_ and she couldn’t help but nod numbly in agreement, reasoning that he was right and as much as she would have liked to continue, it was better that they not. However, now hours later, as she replayed the night in her mind she wasn’t so sure.

Needing to go to bed in order to wake up for class had been a very valid reason and it wasn’t long before she found herself drifting off, snuggling deeper into the warmth he provided. Even the kisses they had shared when they had been awoken by his alarm clock and again before she left to head to the bus stop had been sweet, and while she liked them just fine, she couldn’t help but feel as if something was lacking. For a friends-with-benifits relationship, there seemed to be none of the expected and socially stigmitized benefits. The time on the couch was one thing, what with them being so close to the front door and that anyone could have walked in the room at anytime. But in Wolfgang’s bedroom, in the dead of night, with the rest of his housemates tucked away in their own rooms with low possibilities of interruption would have been the perfect opportunity to try to take their relationship further and yet, the male hadn’t. Was he tired of her already? Was he not as interested as she had thought he was? Was-

“ _Dandekar_!” Kala snapped out of her mussing to see Nomi staring at her, the expression on her face full of concern. “You okay?” The girl in question blinked twice before nodding slowly.

“Yeah, just uh, zoned out for a second is all.”

“Well, you might wanna zone back in before you’re late for class.” Kala glanced at the clock on her wall and practically leaped up from her seat before hurriedly shoving books in her backpack and nearly running her roommate over as she ran out of her room and then out of the house.

Her morning classes had gone by in a rush and before she knew it, she was taking a bus downtown for her meeting with Rajan, the bus stopping right in front of her work. She stepped off the bus and smiled upon seeing the Rasal heir standing out front and appeardly glaring at his watch as if willing it to do something besides tell him the time. Kala cleared her throat before calling out to him, the tight expression on his face immediately fading into a smile and walking the few feet until they were in front of each other and motioning towards the direction of the resturaunt. The pair made small talk as they walked and soon they reached and were being taken to a small table in the back.

“This is one of the few curry places I trust in the city.” Rajan confessed as they got settled. “If you don’t like it, I might have to ask you to leave immediately.”

“Well, my father owns a resturaunt back home so I have pretty astronomical expectations. They are going to be hard to live up to.”

“Noted.” Rajan had started to say something else, but was stopped as their waiter came back with waters and asked if they were ready to order. Rajan stated his choice with an ease of having been there many times and Kala, trusting his judgement, ordered the same and when the waiter left, Kala turned back to Rajan expectantly.

“So do I finally get to know what this meeting is about?”

“I guess I have stalled long enough, huh?” He chuckled before reaching for the satchel he had brought with him, opening it and pulling out a file and filpping through it. “So I see that you’re majoring in science with a focus on phamaciedicals. Have you always had an interest or was there something else-”

“How do you know that?” Kala asked suddenly, causing the male to pause.

“Pardon?” 

“How do you know what I’m studying?”

“Well it was in your file that you’re at-”

“You looked up my information?”

“Yes, but only because of work! I just looked through what we already had on you in our system. I didn’t go digging into like your social networking sites or anything like that, I swear. I didn’t want to offer you a job that you would have no interest or knowledge in so I had to make sure you knew what you were doing. Not that I doubt your ability or anything! I just, you know, if you were an English major or something I didn’t want to offer you a position in a biochem lab, ya know because you probably would have no interest in that and then it’d just be awkward and uncomfortable and-”

“Rajan!” Kala said interrrupting his rambling. “It’s alright. I completely understand. I was just surprised is all. And did I hear you correctly? You’re offering me a job?”

“Well, it’s technically an internship,” Rajan explained. “But it’s not like a typical one where you’d be fetching coffee and stuff. You’d actually be working in one of the Rasal labs and assisting with mixing chemicals and creating the formulas.”

“But I didn’t apply for any internship.”

“Wel you need one for your major right?” Kala nodded slowly. “So this is perfect! I really wanted to find a way to thank you for your kindness as well as for treating me like a person and when my father said he had a new lab opening up, I thought that this would be the best way to do so.”

“Rajan, this is far too generous for what I did. Your company is one of the most respected in the world and I wouldn’t feel right just being handed the job because I happened to tell the future CEO where his meeting was.”

“Then apply!” He exclaimed, Kala leaning back slightly in surprise at energy behind the statement. Rajan threw a sheepish grin her way in apology. “Sorry. If it’s really bothering you so much, then send a formal application through our website and it’ll be reviewed like everyone else’s, no special treatment, I swear. Just promise me you’ll seriously consider it?” Kala pressed her lips together in a line before nodding slightly. Rajan smiled just as their food arrived and neither felt the need to say anything else, too cosumed with eating for small talk.

Kala had to admit that the food was pretty good and when she was done, she even conteplated ordering another one to take home before changing her mind. After Rajan had paid for both meals (Kala tried to pay for her half but Rajan had waved the waiter away with his card in hand before she could even complain) they left the resturant and began the short walk back to the building before stopping in front of it. Kala spoke first.

“Thank you for lunch, Rajan.” She said. “I enjoyed it alot.”

“I’m glad. How do they rank against your father?” Kala sighed exaggeratedly.

“Well, my father is always going to take the number one spot.” She firmly explained, earning a over the top nod from the male in agreement. “But…”

“But…”

“I will admit that they came pretty close.” Rajan fistbumped the air before straighting up again and returning to his professional demeanor. Kala held back a laugh.

“I will count that as a success. And the internship? You’ll apply?” Kala nodded, rolling her eyes at the smug expression the male wore.

“I will _think_ about it when I get home.”

“Fair enough. Speaking of which, do you need a ride? I’d be more than happy to give you a lift.” Kala shook her head.

“Thank you, but no, the bus is fine. Besides I have other things I need to do before I come back for my shift later today anyway.” Rajan nodded in understanding.

“Of course. I’ll see you around Ms. Dandekar.” He said, offering her his right hand to shake which she easily took.

“Yes you will, Mr. Rasal.” With that, he turned and began making his way into the building while Kala prepared to cross the street.

“Oh, and Kala?”

“Yes?”

“I look forward to seeing your application tomorrow morning.”

* * *

“Hey Kala. What’s up?” Kala froze slightly before letting a smile grace her features.

“Hey Will. I’m good. How are you doing?”

“I could always be worse, I guess. Come on in.” Will stepped away from the door so Kala could slip in before shutting the door behind her. “Can I get you something to drink? We’ve got water, orange juice and more than likely some kind of alcohol.”

“I’m good thanks. Is um, Wolfgang here?”

“He was when I got here an hour ago and I don’t think he’s left. Check his room.”

Thanks Will!” The taller male waved off her thanks before heading up the stairs as Kala made her way towards the german’s bedroom. She stopped outside his door and knocked lightly before she could double guess herself and when a mumbled voice from inside told her to come in, quickly entered before leaning against it to shut it behind her.

“Kala? What are you doing here? Is everything okay? Is something-” Kala didn’t let him finish his sentence, practically launching herself at the male. They both tumbled back on to his bed with Kala on top, placing her lips firmly on his. Wolfgang sat back up so that he was seated on the edge of his bed with Kala nestled in his lap. Wolfgang quickly wrapped his arms around her waist to help hold her as he eagerly reciprocated the kiss. Kala, feeling braver as time went on, reached down and firmly grasped the edge of his shirt and attempted to pull it up his body in hopes that he would get the message. He apprently did, pulling away from the kiss to shoot her a look of bewilderment.

“Kala, what’s gotten into you?” The girl in question muttered something unitelligeible before continuing her previous assignment of pulling off Wolfgang’s shirt, the blonde not stopping her as she did. She quickly grabbed the back of his neck and brought his lips back to hers only for him to yank himself away. “Kals-” Kala began to undo the buttons on her shirt, Wolfgang grabbing her hands to stop her before she could make it all the way down. “Kala, stop. Hang on.” Before she could reply, Wolfgang used his body weight to flip her over so her body was down on his bed and he hovered above her. “Are you ready to tell me what’s got you acting like this or are you going to keep trying to undress the both of us?”

“Are you saying that you don’t want to see me naked?”

“No, but I’m confused as to why you seem so keep that it has to happen right now. What aren’t you telling me?”

“What makes you think I’m not telling you something?” Wolfgang arched an eyebrow.

“We literally agreed yesterday that we would be honest with each other. I’m serious. Kala, what’s wrong?” The India native glared at the boy above her before finally letting out a sigh and manuvering her wrists out of Wolfgang’s grasp in order to cross her arms in defeat.

“Why haven’t you tried to have sex with me? Or anything really?” She asked, eyes unable to meet his own and staying on his chest therefore missing the confused expression he shot her.

“I don’t think I understand.”

“Isn’t the whole point of a friends with benifits situation that there are...benifits? But you’ve never tried to do anything past kissing and last time I was here we had the perfect opportunity and you still insisted that we go to sleep instead. I guess I was just starting to think that, I don’t know...maybe-”

“Because I’m not trying to stick my dick in you 24/7, that I didn’t want you like that?” Now deeply embarrassed, Kala nodded. “Kals, trust me when I say that me, my hormones and my dick are 100 percent attracted to you. And yeah, we might be in a situation where sex is implied but I’m never gonna force you into anything and with you being a virgin, I wanted to make sure that you’re comfortable. What made you think I didn’t want you like that?”

“...nothing…”

“A lie by omission is still a lie.”

“That’s definitely something my father would say.”

“Great men think alike.” Kala attempted to push him away but Wolfgang only proceeded to roll over to his side and pull her into his body. Kala froze briefly before relaxing in his hold, one of his arms soothingly running up and down her back. The two lied there in silence for a few moments and Kala was almost able to forget what had lead them into their current position. _Almost_. “But I’m genuinely curious.” Wolfgang muttered, his lips barely moving from where they were pressed against her scalp. “Even with me initially asking you out, agreeing to be in this arrangement with you, telling you how I was uncomfortable with the idea of you being with anybody else, and practically begging you to spend the night-every night-what made you think I didn’t want to be with you?”

“...I...Okay, I...well...last year I was in a relationship with this guy and it was all good and fine at first, but then he wanted to take things faster than I did and he would sort of, sometimes, guilt trip me into stuff. We never went all the way or anything but I guess for so long I’ve associated attraction to possession that I might now have a problem separating the two.” By the time she was done with her speech, she had nuzzled her head firmly into Wolfgang’s shoulder. The male’s hand on her back stopped briefly before contining its up-and-down movement, with the german humming in acknowledgemnt.

“Do you still have contact with this boy?” Kala shook her head.

“No. he dumped me for someone else. He left me a text message and then I never heard from him again.”

“Good. Because he’s a fucking cock.”

“That’s honestly probably nicer than what Nomi would come up with.”

“Look at me, Kala. Please?” After a seeconds heisitation, the girl in question did as she was asked, pulling her face away from his body to look at his face for the first time since her confession. “How about the next time you’re conconcered about something, you ask me instead of working yourself into a frenzy? I mean, don’t get me wrong. Seeing you take charge like that was hot as hell, but I’m only into it if it’s because you want to, not because you feel the need to prove something or any other reason. Okay?”

“Yeah. Okay.”

“Good.” Wolfgang smiled before leaning in and gently kissing her before pulling away, the hand on her back moving to gently play with the ends of her hair. “So, how long can you stay?”

“Not too long actually. I’ve got work in a few hours and I need to go home and change as well as actually start some of my homework.”

So, what? You thought you’d come over, hit it, and then leave?” Wolfgang asked, pretending to be offended. “You weren’t even gonna give me time to cuddle afterwards? And, to think all this time, I thought I was more than just a hot piece of ass to you. Thank you so much for telling me where I stand.”

“I’m leaving.” She joked causing the blond to pull her back into his arms before she could get even an inch off the bed.

“I’m joking. Okay, but seriously, what are you doing this Friday?” Kala shrugged.

Nothing, I guess. Why?”

Well, I know all the boys has plans so the house will be empty. How about you come over after work, we can order a pizza and then if you want we can Netflix and chill...or just... _chill_?”

“I’d like that.

Good. I think Will’s here. Did you want to see if he can drive you home?”

“No, it’s okay. I don’t want to bother him. Besides, I’ve basically memeorized the bus schedule at this point.”

“So what’s the latest you can leave in order for you to get everything done in time?” Kala glanced over her shoulder at the clock behind them and quickly calculated in her head.

“Probably an hour and a half? Why?”

“You wanna practice for Friday?” 


End file.
